The kingis quair and The quare of jelusy

ST. ANDREWS UNIVERSITY
PUBLICATION NO. VIII.

THE KINGIS QUAIR

Large crown 8vo., cloth, price 5/=

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BY JOHN BARBOUR

EDITED FROM THE BEST TEXTS, WITH LITERARY
AND HISTORICAL INTRODUCTIONS, NOTES, APPEN
DICES, AND A GLOSSARY

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JAMES I. OF SCOTLAND
From Pinkerton's Iconographies

THE KINGIS QUAIR

AND

THE QUARE OF JELUSY

EDITED, WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES, APPENDIX
AND GLOSSARY,

BY

ALEXANDER LAWSON

M.A. (Sr. AND.), HON. D.D. (EoiN.)

BERRY PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE UNIVERSITY
' OF ST. ANDREWS

MICROFORMED BY

PRESERVATION
SfcRVlCtS
MAY o 8 1987

DATE

LONDON

ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK
1910

;'

PREFACE

THE aim of this book is twofold — to give the texts of the several
poems as the manuscripts present them and as criticism would
amend them, and to assign to them their place in the development
of English and Scottish poetry.

Interest centres in the Kingis Quairy and the chief points for
discussion are raised by its character and history. Professor Skeat's
edition of the poem and Professor Schick's edition of Lydgate's
Temple of Glas, followed as they were after the lapse of a few
years by Mr. J. T. T. Brown's challenge of the authenticity of
the Quair, created a fresh interest in medieval Scottish poetry, and
subsequent controversy by M. Jusserand and others has helped to
make clear some things in Scottish history and literature which
were before obscure and imperfectly apprehended.

To Professor Skeat, Mr. Brown, and those who followed him,
I am of necessity indebted, and this indebtedness is acknowledged
in the Introduction and Notes. If at any point this has not been
expressed, it is by inadvertence. On details of interpretation
and on some points of textual criticism I have found Walther
Wischmann's Untersuchungen uber das Kingis Quair Jakobs I von
Schottland very helpful, and always acute.*

The Quare of Jelusy, as will be evident from the Introduction,
has a closer connection with the other Quair than accidental
proximity in a unique MS. There has been but one previous
edition, in 1836. Reprinting it, in a correct text, may therefore
not be regarded as a literary crime.

I have to express my thanks to Professor Skeat for his courtesy
in allowing me to note his actual and suggested emendations of

* Wischmann, who was latterly University Librarian at Kiel, died in 1905
at the early age of forty-five. His death was a distinct loss to Middle English
and Scottish scholarship.

vi PREFACE

the text, to Mr. Maitland Anderson, University Librarian,
St. Andrews, and to other authorities on script mentioned in
Appendix C, for deliberate expression of opinion on the hand
writing of the scribes of the manuscript, and to my friends, the
Rev. William Bayne, of the St. Andrews Provincial Committee's
Training College, and George Soutar, Esq., D.Litt., University
College, Dundee, for their great kindness in reading the proofs of
the book.

Last, but not least, I have to thank Principal Sir James Donaldson
and the other members of St. Andrews University Court for their
good-will in placing the book among our University Publications.

ST. ANDREWS,

September, 1910.

CONTENTS

PAGES

INTRODUCTION - ix-lxxxviii

I. Life of King James I. ix

1. Until his Capture ix

2. In Captivity xvi

3. Reign - - xxvii

4. Accomplishments and Literary Reputation xl
II. Authenticity of the Kingis Quair xliii

III. The Kingis Quair and other Poetry - Ix

IV. Texts as in Manuscripts and as amended - Ixxvii
V. The Language of the Poems - -Ixxxiii

References to Introduction - - Ixxxix

AMENDED TEXT 2

MANUSCRIPT TEXT OF KINGIS QUAIR - 3

BALLAD OF GOOD COUNSEL - 102

QUARE OF JELUSY - 104

APPENDIX A. — Date of the Capture of King James I. - 124

„ B. — Several Accounts of the King's Death - 125

„ C.— The Scribes of the Two Quairs - 126

NOTES TO KINGIS QUAIR - 129

NOTES TO QUARE OF JELUSY - - 149

GLOSSARY 1 56

vn

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Portrait of King James I. of Scotland from Pinkerton's Icono
graphies - - Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

Beginning of Kingis Quair 3

Conclusion of Kingis Quair with colophon - 101

"Ballad of Good Counsel as in Cambridge Manuscript —

stanzas 2 and 3 of plate - 103

Beginning of Quare ofjelusy - - 104

Conclusion of Quare ofjelusy - - 123

ABBREVIATIONS USED IN NOTES
TO TEXT.

S. Reading given or suggested by Rev. Professor W. W. Skeat,
LL.D., in his edition of Kingis Quair, 1884.

W. Reading suggested by Herr Walther Wischmann, Ph.D., in his

Untersuchungen.

W.W. Reading adopted from above.
E.T. Mr. George Eyre-Todd.

Alternative conjectural readings are printed between brackets,
thus: ( ).

Vlll

INTRODUCTION

I

LIFE OF KING JAMES I

I
UNTIL HIS CAPTURE

KING JAMES I., like his ill-fated descendant Charles L, was born
at Dunfermline, probably in the earlier half of July,1 1394.
Wyntoun2 gives the year, and, although he is not always accurate,
the date is confirmed by inferences from statements as to the
Prince's age at later periods, notably at the time of his capture by
the English. The place and the month of his birth are attested
by an interesting letter from his mother, Queen Annabella, to
Richard II. of England.3 "To (the) very high and mighty
Prince R(ichard), by the grace of God, King of England, our
very dear Cousin, A(nnabella), by the same grace Queen of
Scotland, health and love. For your gracious letters presented to
us by our well-beloved Douglas Herald-at-Arms we thank you
wholly and from the heart : by them we have learned your good
estate and health to our great pleasure and comfort. And, very
dear Cousin, as to a treaty to be made touching the marriage
between those near to you in blood and some of the children of
the King, our Lord, and of us, be pleased to know now that it is
agreeable to the King, my said Lord, and to us, as he has signified
to you by his letters, and, in especial, in so far as the said treaty
will not be able to hold from the third day of July by-past, for
fixed and reasonable causes contained in your letters sent to the
King, my Lord aforesaid, you have agreed that another day for
the same treaty be taken, the first day of October next to come,
which is agreeable to the King, my Sire aforesaid, and to us ; and
we thank you with all our will and heart ; and we pray earnestly

x THE KINGIS QUAIR

that you be willing to continue the said treaty, and to cause to be
held the said day. For it is the will of the King, my Sire above-
said, and of us, as far as in us is, that the said day be held without
default. And, very dear Cousin, we ask you and pray you
earnestly that it displease not your Highness that we have not
sooner written to you. For you are to think of us as lying ill
owing to the birth of a male child by name James. And we have
been well and graciously delivered by the grace of God and of
our Lady. And also because the King my said Lord, at the
coming of your letters, was far distant in the isles of his kingdom,
we did not receive his letters sent to us on this matter until the
last day of July last by-past. Very high and mighty Prince, may
the Holy Spirit guard you all your days. Given under our seal at
the Abbey of Dunfermline the first day of August."

Robert III. and Annabella had been crowned King and Queen
in 1390 after the death of Robert II. at Dundonald on April 19
of that year.4 James was their third son. A second son, Robert,
had died in infancy,5 and their eldest son David, afterwards Duke
of Rothesay, was at the birth of James nearly sixteen.6 King
Robert, who had been injured in youth by a kick from a horse,7
was an amiable and conciliatory man who loved the quiet and
mild climate of Bute and the Western Isles, and he left the task
of practical government to his masterful younger brother the Earl
of Fife,8 who in 1389 had been appointed Regent and Governor
of the kingdom by his father and the estates. Queen Annabella's
letter shows that her lord was a sovereign more anxious to consider
his consort's feelings than to direct the policy of the realm.

As the whole after-life of James was coloured and modified by
the public situation thus created in his childhood through the
co-existence of a kind but weak father, a clever affectionate mother,
a strong-willed uncle, and an elder brother growing to manhood,
and, as the estimate of his character depends not a little upon the
view we are compelled to take of his uncle, some attention must
be paid to the history of the Scottish royal family during his early
boyhood.

The mild father, like Isaac, has often a stirring son like Esau.
Such was David, Earl of Carrick, who early played a part in
public life. One of his first public acts, in all probability, was his

LIFE OF KING JAMES I xi

arrangement of the Battle of the Clans, " which took place in the
King's presence upon the Inch of Perth, not as stated by Sir
Walter Scott upon Easter Sunday, but upon September 28, I396."9
His importance as the heir-apparent was recognised by his advance
ment to the title of Duke of Rothesay, on April 28, 1398, when
his uncle the Earl of Fife was created Duke of Albany, the title
of Duke being then for the first time introduced into Scotland.10
Nine months afterwards — January 27, 1399 — the prince was by
his father appointed Regent for three years, and a Council was
selected to assist him in the work of government.11 In all prob
ability the Queen's hand was more active than the King's in this
promotion of the Prince and supplanting of Albany. How the
Prince bore himself cannot with any certainty be gathered from
the tangled tale of his misfortunes in love, of his love of literature,
and of his eagerness for public business in spite of a severely
limited allowance from the public purse.12 Collision with the
masterful uncle whose post he now filled was inevitable, and
equally inevitable in the Scotland of that time was the painting of
the Prince's character to please the ruling power. It suited
Albany to have him believed to be weak and worthless, that
exaggerations and misrepresentations might help the plot against
his rule. There were the usual complications with England, and
these were followed by an invasion of Scotland in August, I4OO.13
Unfortunately for the Duke of Rothesay, Queen Annabella died
in the autumn of the same year,14 and there was no longer any
effective head to the anti-Albany party. The greatest ecclesiastical
post in the kingdom was vacant and was being bitterly wrangled
about, and the vacancy seems to have suggested a very ominous
kind of wrong-doing to the Prince. He seized the temporalities of
the see of St. Andrews, and this act must have alienated churchmen,
who were invariably well disposed to the sovereign. It certainly
took the Prince to a region where Albany had great possessions and
corresponding power. Albany imprisoned his nephew in the
castle of St. Andrews,16 whence, on March 25, 1402, the day
being the day before Easter, he had him transferred to his own
castle of Falkland. On Monday, March 27, the Prince was found
dead, and it was widely believed that he had been murdered at
the instigation of the uncle in whose house he died.10 (Such an

xii THE KINGIS QUAIR

opportune death from natural causes is unusual.) Albany again
became the real ruler of the kingdom. It was probably as easy a
matter to get parliamentary proclamation of his innocence, and of
the innocence of the Earl of Douglas appropriately associated with
him, on May 16, I4O2,17 as it was for the Earl of Bothwell to
get a verdict of " Not Guilty " from a council of his peers in
April, 1567. The Duke of Rothesay may have been, like his
kinsman Darnley, a young fool and rake, but the proof is scarcely
adequate save on one point. He was betrothed to the daughter
of the Earl of March, and within a year he married a daughter of
the Earl of Douglas.18 He was certainly in the way of the
person who again became Governor of Scotland after his death.

It is necessary to bear this tragedy in mind if we are to compre
hend the policy of Albany in itself, and in its effect upon the
temper and character of James L, who thus, as a child of seven,
became heir-apparent to the crown of Scotland. Its immediate
effect was to increase the vigilance of the King. James was sent
to the castle of St. Andrews19 and placed in the keeping of
Henry Wardlaw who had been Bishop there since the year of
Rothesay's death. Here, some time before January 18, 1404,2°
James received a companion of his own age in the person of the
young Percy, son of Hotspur. (Percy was born on February 3,
I394-)21 And although it is fiction and not history that together
they trod the road of letters at the now venerable but then newly
established University of St. Andrews,22 it is not improbaHe that
the sight of the two boys at their books in his sea-beat palace
helped to suggest to the good Bishop the foundation of a university
in the ecclesiastical capital.* But the thought only became fact on
February 27, 1412, when Bishop Wardlaw granted the charter
which instituted the first Scottish university.23 Of the boyish
pleasures and studies of James there is no record.

Late in 1405, or early in 1406, King Robert and his confidential
advisers decided to send the young prince to France to complete

* St. Andrews was already a favourite place of education and had schools,
although the university was not in existence. In 1383 and 1384 payments
were made for the expenses of James Stewart, an illegitimate son of Robert II.,
who was under the care of the Bishop of St. Andrews, and for Gilbert de
Haia, son of Thomas de Haia, while at the schools of St. Andrews. (Grant,
History of the Burgh Schools of Scotland^ p. 13.)

LIFE OF KING JAMES I xiii

his education, and to be out of the reach of his energetic and not
over-scrupulous uncle.24 The project seems to have been veiled
or obscured in some way, possibly to deceive Albany and his
partisans in Scotland. At least, this is a natural inference from a
remarkably confused passage in Wavrin26 which records the pre
sence of James at the siege of Melun. " This King of Scotland, of
whom at present we make mention, was prisoner of King Henry,
and the manner of his capture I will tell you as I have been
informed by two noble knights, natives of the kingdom of England,
who told me that King David (sic) of Scotland had a son named
James1 who greatly desired to make the holy pilgrimage to
Jerusalem. He was counselled, in order securely to accomplish
this desire, that he had need of a safe-conduct from King Henry,
which he obtained for himself and twenty gentlemen ; then he
made his preparations and took leave of the king, his father. So
he came into England, where he was honourably entertained and
grandly received by the Duke of Gloucester (Clocestre), brother
of the king, and by other great lords, ladies, and maidens. Now,
while he was still sojourning there, he received news of a grievous
illness which had seized the king, his father, and of which he died.
Therefore he greatly grieved when he knew the truth by the
princes and great lords of the kingdom of Scotland, who announced
it to him as to the only son and heir to the crown, indicating to
him that he should come to take possession of his lands and lord
ships. The Duke of Gloucester, on being informed of the death
of the King of Scotland, let King Henry his brother know at
once, and he enjoined him to detain the said James in taking his
pledge and bringing him before the city of Melun where he was,
saying that he had not given safe-conduct to the King of Scotland,
but to the son of the King of Scotland, who was henceforth King
of Scotland by the death of King David his father. Finally he
remained a prisoner and was brought to France to the presence
of King Henry before Melun." There is here a plentiful crop of
blunders. David is put for Robert, and Robert's death is made
sixteen years later than the event. Yet there may be some sub
stratum of truth in the mention of a desire on the part of James
to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. No Scottish writer,
however, speaks of a request for, or of the granting of a safe-

xiv THE KINGIS QUAIR

conduct, and Wyntoun, who makes much of English bad faith in
the capture of James, must have known if such dishonourable
practice there had been.26

Whatever the motive of the journey, preparations for sending
James to France began early in 1406. The manner of his sailing
implies a fear of capture and a manifest desire to keep arrangements
from the knowledge of enemies at home and abroad. The Kingls
Quair, stanza XX., gives the time of departure : it was shortly
after the vernal equinox, but the poem sheds no light upon motive,
or special preparations or precautions :

Were it causit throu heuinly influence
Off goddis will, or other casualtee,
Can I noght say.

(Stanza XXII.)

James is simply described as a child about three years past the
state of innocence, who was sent out of the country by the advice
of those in whose care he was :

Bot out of my contree
By thaire avise that had of me the cure
Be see to pass tuke I myn auenture.

(Stanza XXII.)

The Scottish historian who gives the clearest account is Bel-
lenden : 27 " Thus was it concludit be the king to send his son
other in France or England quhair he (myght) eschew al treason
devisit agains him. Sone efter ane schip wes providit with al
necessaris, and tendir supplicationis direckit baith to the king of
France and Ingland to ressaive him undir thair targe, protection,
and benevolence, gife it happinit him to arrive within any of thair
realmes. Hary Lord Sinclair, the secund Earl of Orkney, was
chosin to this besiness, and pullit up sales at the Bass, hauand the
said James and the young Perse with many othir nobles and
gentlemen of Scotland in his company. This James, richt wery
be uncouth air and corruption of seis, desirit to refresch him on
the land, and was soon takin with all his company be that maner.
Otheris writes that he was takin at Flamburghead apon the seis,
be Inglishmen quhilkis war advertist be treason of certain Scottis
of his passage to France. Truth is he was takin the ix28 }er of
his age, the xxx day of Marche, fra our redemption mcccciv29 ^eris
and was haddin in captivite be Inglishmen xviii 3eris."30

LIFE OF KING JAMES I xv

Again The Kingis Quair is tantalisingly general in its account.
The voyagers were well provided for, they sailed in the morning,
they made " many goodby," they " pullit up saile," ;hey tossed
about on the waves, and they were forcibly captured by enemies
and brought into their country.31 The poet says nothing about
truce-breaking, and as a matter of fact, on March 30, 1406, there
was no truce between Scotland and England. How James and
his company had only reached Flamborough Head on March 30 is
a mystery, if they set sail near the vernal equinox, as the poet says.
Indeed, contrary to the poetic statement in the Quair, they had
probably sailed from the Bass early in February, as Sir David
Fleming of Cumbernauld who had seen the prince embark was
killed on his way home on February 14, I4o6.82

The departure of James from Scotland and the manner of his
capture are also clearly set down by Walsingham,33 who gives the
correct date 1406. He first mentions the murder of Fleming of
Cumbernauld, and then says that the Scots were provoked to civil
war and forced to sue for a truce for a year : " treugas annales
petere coguntur. Quibus formatis in terra Scoti misere per aequora
filium Regis sui et heredem ut coalesceret et informaretur in
Francia de facetia linguaque Gallica. Quern quidam nautae de
Cley in Norfolchia cepere fortuito et quemdam Episcopum comi-
temque de Orkenay, quibus commissus fuerat a patre suo, et ad
Angliam deduxerunt Regique dederunt. Rex, vero, resolutus in
jocos, dixit : * Certe, si grati fuissent Scoti hunc misissent mihi
juvenem instituendum, nam et idioma Franciae ego novi.' Missique
sunt ad Turrim Londiniarum dictus juvenis et Comes Orkadum,
Episcopo per fugam lapso." Walsingham evidently knew nothing
of the prince's distaste of the sea and wish to land, and nothing
of the tale that he was compelled to land by stress of weather :
"cassin be tempest of wedder as he was passing to France."84
According to Bower 35 James on being captured was taken first of
all to the Castle of Penvai. Bellenden,36 like his original, gives
the substance of a letter addressed to Henry IV. which the young
prince carried, but this letter in all probability is not a historical
document, though Tytler accepts the tenor of it as genuine.87

In the midst of this confusion and contradiction one fact and
one date are clear and indisputable. Robert III. died at Rotl

xvi THE KINGIS QUAIR

on April 4, 1406, the day being the feast of S. Ambrose and Palm
Sunday.38 His death is invariably associated with the tidings of
his son's capture. It is also possible that consciousness of the near
approach of death had impelled the King to send his heir to a place
of safety. A boy of eleven was in danger sufficient between
Albany and the Douglases. If James were captured on March 30,
his father in the island of Bute could scarcely have had news of
his misfortune on April 4. Dunbar,39 accepting Wyntoun's state
ment that the capture was on Palm Sunday, makes the capture of
the prince and the death of King Robert fall on the same day. In
June, ^406, a Council General of the Estates at Perth recognised
the young King's title, and appointed Albany Governor of the
kingdom.40

In these events and the consequent confirmation of the rule ot
Albany, coinciding, as they do, with the reign of Henry IV. in
England, we have a curious parallel to the situation which was to
emerge in 1568 when Queen Mary was made prisoner by
Elizabeth. We have an .English sovereign with a doubtful title,
a divided people, and an emphatically hostile Northumbria ; and
we have a Scottish government which is avowedly temporary,
while the legitimate Scottish monarch is in the power of the
English ruler, who is thus able to control the northern kingdom,
because the rightful governor might at any moment be released, if
the de facto ruler should prove too troublesome to his southern
neighbour. James had two circumstances favourable to him
which did not exist in the reign of his illustrious descendant.
The Catholic Church in Scotland was then undivided, and
Churchmen were eminently loyal, while the French government
fully recognised and valued the alliance with Scotland. Yet in
spite of these favouring influences James remained almost as long
in English keeping as Queen Mary, though his release from
captivity came in a fashion more creditable to his captors.

II

IN CAPTIVITY

The first English rererence to James as a captive is on
August 14, 1406 :l Richard Spice, Lieutenant of Sir Thomas
Rempton, Constable of the Tower of London, is noted as

LIFE OF KING JAMES I xvii

receiving £44 75. rod. "for the expenses of the household of the
King of Scotland and other prisoners in his keeping." On
December 10 of the same year,2 Spice receives " in part of
£S9 J3s. 4d. for the expense of the King of Scotland's son, John
Toures (? Forrest), William Seton, John Giffard, and Sir
Donkerton, chaplain, under his ward in the Tower, viz.,
7 marks from July 6-13 last, and from that date 6s. 8d. daily, for
the expenses of the said King's son, and 35. 4d. for the others, till
September 30 last : no days, £54 6s. 6d."s Now if we reckon
the sum of £44 75. lod. as payment for the same persons at the
same rate, prior to July 6, we find that James and his companions
must have been committed to the Tower about May 2, 1406.
On December 13 of the same year, Sir Ralph Bracebrigge,
Lieutenant of the Tower of London, received £53 6s. 8d. " for
the expenses of the household of the K(ing) of Scotland's son,
Owain Glendourdy, and others in his keeping, at the King's cost,
in the Tower."4 From this date until June 12, 1407, James was
a prisoner in the Tower of London. On that day he was
entrusted to Richard, Lord Gray of Codenore, that he might be
taken to Nottingham Castle.5 He was in Lord Gray's care at
Nottingham throughout the remainder of 1407 and part of 1408,
for, on November 16, 1408, Lord Gray received payment of his
expenses at Evesham.6 On 21 December following, warrant was
issued to the Chancellor for safe-conducts " until Easter next, for
Walter, Bishop of Brechin, Duncan, Earl of Lennox, William,
Lord of Graham, John Stewart of Lome, Walter Stewart of
Raylston, Knight, Master Robert of Lanyne, Provost of the
Church of St. Andrews, John of Glasgow and John of Busby,
Canons of Moray and Dunblane, about to come to the King's
presence to treat for the deliverance of James, son of the late
K(ing) of Scotland and other arduous matters touching the good
of both realms."7 This is the first recorded effort to secure the
liberation of the royal prisoner. A glimpse is given of the English
spirit in these transactions with Albany, by the tenor of the com
mission for a new truce. The commissioners are to treat "cum
Roberto Duce Albaniae, Regni Scotiae, ut asserit, Gubernatore."
A Scottish reader smiles grimly at Henry IV., the usurping
Bolingbroke, styling James " son of the King of Scotland " and

xviii THE KINGIS QUAIR

Albany " Governor of the kingdom of Scotland as he avers."
Albany, in his communications, seems to have ignored the cap
tivity of James, for in a letter of date May 6, 1410, from "our
manor of Falkland," he discusses a truce to be kept till May 21,

1411, and he makes not the remotest allusion to his captive
nephew.8 This indifference was not general in Scotland, and in
all probability a proposed visit of Elisabeth, Duchess of Rothesay,
and the Lord of Lorn and others was planned in the interest of
the King.9 Another Scottish party, headed by the Bishop of
Brechin, had a safe-conduct issued to them on May 15, I4I2,10
and one is disposed to ask — u Were they a counter-mission in
Albany's interest or another embassy in the interest of James ?"

During this period of James's captivity one event of considerable
national importance took place. This was the foundation of
St. Andrews University by his old guardian Bishop Wardlaw.
It is all but certain that King James was in communication with
the good bishop and his advisers, and that he was kept informed
of what was happening in Scotland, for the King's name, not that
of Albany, Governor of Scotland, is associated with the Bishop
and Chapter, Prior and Archdeacon, in a petition to Benedict XIII.
(Peter de Luna) for Papal confirmation and foundation of the
University of St. Andrews.11 Bower expressly mentions the
King's interest in the foundation of the University and his writing
to the Pope letters with his own hand.12

Albany, who could not procure the release of his sovereign and
nephew, succeeded eventually in effecting the release of his own
son. A safe-conduct for the hostages of Murdoch, Master of Fife,
was issued on May 18, 1412, and a truce for six years was pro
claimed on the preceding day.18 In this proclamation there is no
" ut asserit " after Albany's title. The release of Murdoch did
not, however, take place until December, I4i5.u

We find an isolated fact concerning James in a letter to
Henry IV. from his son, probably Humphrey, Duke of
Gloucester. The letter was written at Southampton on May 14,

1412. The writer refers to his brother of Bedford and his forces,
and says that his great ship the Grace Dieu is ready for sea, and
that the King of Scots is on his way to testify his goodwill to the
King. " And, Sir, I trowe ye haue on comyng toward }ow as

LIFE OF KING JAMES I xix

glad as any man can be as far as he sheweth, that is the King of
Scottes, for he thankith God that he sud mow (now) shewe be ex
perience thentent of his goodwill be the suffrance of your good
lordship."

The letter is subscribed " your trewe and humble

liege man and sone
H. G."15

In November of this year, as we learn from a letter of his own,10
James was at Croydon residing, probably, as Mr. J. T. T. Brown
supposes,17 in the palace of Archbishop Arundel. Little more
than three months later Henry IV. died, on March 20, 1413, and
the writer of the Book of Pluscarden1* credits the dying monarch
with a desire to have James set free without a ransom. " Et
licet dictus rex Angliae Henricus ultima sua voluntate ordinavit
filio suo Henrico, qui Franciam hostiliter invasit, quod dictus rex
Scotiae libere ad patriam transmitteretur sine quacunque redemp-
cione, non tamen filius hoc perimplere curavit." What founda
tion there may have been for this report of a death-bed counsel of
clemency we know not. Henry V. paid no heed to it, for one of
his earliest acts as sovereign, on March 21, 1413, was to consign
James, his cousin Murdoch, Douglas of Dalkeith, and William
Gifford to the custody of the Constable of the Tower.19 Payments
were made on June 27 and July 1 7 for the prisoner's maintenance,20
and on August 3, 1413, James was transferred to Windsor Castle,21*
thence to Pevensey,22 and again to Windsor.28 In view of the
romance of his marriage one is tempted to put certain questions.
Was this his first Windsor captivity ? Were the Beauforts living
there then or later ? Had Major authority for his statement —
" because he was kept prisoner in a castle or chamber, in which a
lady dwelt with her mother"?24 From Windsor, probably in the
late autumn, James was sent once more to the Tower, where he
seems to have remained throughout I4I4.26

The Spring of 1414 had seen the fulfilment of one ambition
which James had shared with Bishop Wardlaw. This was the
confirmation of the Foundation-Charter of the University by

* In August, 1413, Henry V. made a further effort to persuade James to
sacrifice the independence of Scotland by swearing homage to him under pain
of perpetual imprisonment. (Scotickront ii., pp. 586-7.)

xx THE KINGIS QUAIR

Benedict XIII., who on August 28, 1413, at Peniscola in Spain,
had granted no fewer than six Bulls which were brought to the
city by Henry Ogilvy on February 3, 1414, to the great delight
of the clergy and citizens, who celebrated the event with much
rejoicing.26

We owe our knowledge of an incident of 1415 to a petition from
one Thomas Hasely to King Henry VI. The petitioner craves a
reward for services rendered to King Henry V. in recapturing
Thomas Payne, one of Sir John Oldcastle's principal confederates.
" And so with the help and grace of Almighty God youre seid
serviteur toke hym and arrested hym atte mydnyght in a place
beside your castle of Wyndesore wher atte that tyme was the
Kyng of Scottes kept as prisoner to your said fader, and that same
nyght the said traitour should have broken the said castell be
treason and goin with the said Kyng toward Scotland, in proef
whereof I found in the traitouris purs a cedule writen of alle
places of giftes and loggynges appointed for him fro Wyndesore
unto Edynbourgh in Scotland."27

On March 17, 1415, in a Parliament or Council held at Perth
there were read letters from Edward King of England dated
March i, in the second year of his reign, at York. These letters
declared the independence of Scotland, the King renouncing any
claim, if claim he had, to the allegiance of Scotland. This was
evidently an assertion of the rights of the Scottish Crown as they
were acknowledged by the Treaty of Northampton in 1328.
(Act Pad. of Scot., vol. i., p. 572.)

The battle of Agincourt, October 25, 1415, sent another royal
prisoner to England, Charles d'Orle"ans, like James a poet ; but
there is no record of any intercourse between the French prince
and the Scottish King.28 Indeed Henry's French enterprise had
proved an incitement to Albany, who proceeded to besiege Ber
wick.29 Albany's hostility and diplomacy together accomplished
one object at which he had long been aiming : on December n,
1415, his son Murdoch was liberated in exchange for young
Percy.30

King James, now a man of twenty-one, would hardly have been
human if he had not chafed under his continued captivity. There
was therefore a fresh movement for his deliverance. On April 26,

;J

LIFE OF KING JAMES I xxi

1416, a safe-conduct was granted to the Abbot of Balmerino and
others " to treat for deliverance of the King of Scots and upon
certain other matters concerning the state of the kingdoms of
England and Scotland."31 On December 8 of the same year there
is reference32 to a desire on the part of James to go to Scotland
and remain for a time : the Bishop of Durham and the Earls of
Northumberland and Westmoreland are authorised to receive the
obligations of hostages or the payment of one hundred thousand
marks, if James should not return.38 A safe-conduct of the same
date for persons coming to James's presence indicates that the
king has been troublesome. It styles him James Stewart " Regem
Scotiae se dicentem." The commissioners who had the safe-
conduct were a mixed body of friends and foes : Wardlaw, Bishop
of St. Andrews, the Bishop of Glasgow, the recently-liberated
Murdoch, son and heir of Albany, and the Earl of Douglas. The
mission came to nothing, as was probably the intention both of
Henry V. and Albany. For proof of James's impatience we are
not restricted to inference : he wrote certain letters34 which are
extant in draft. Unhappily they are not dated, but Sir William
Fraser is probably right in assigning them to a date prior to
Murdoch's release. The documents "appear to be the original
draft by the secretary of King James the First of the letters before
being engrossed and despatched to the respective noblemen to
whom they were addressed."36 All show James's displeasure, and,
in spite of a cautious and well-considered mode of address, betray
distrust of Albany's sincerity and zeal, and a too ingenuous con
fidence in the goodwill and reasonableness of Henry V. A letter
from London dated August 8, year not mentioned, and addressed
to the burgh of Perth, reveals a further cause of uneasiness.86 The
King could not get his own revenues, which should have been sent
from Scotland, to defray his necessary expenses, and he solicits
a gift or loan from the rulers of the Fair City. One hopes that
the good burgesses were more thoughtful than the Governor of
the kingdom, and that they sent of their " propir guids with ane
honest burges of (thair) awin." The letters to Albany and others
were almost certainly written from Stratford Abbey.87 When
James went there, or when he left, is not recorded, but we know
from the Proceedings of the Privy Council** that early in March,

xxii THE KINGIS QUAIR

1417, he was allowed to travel to the north of England "to await
the coming of those who were to come to treat about his deliver
ance." The commissioners were allowed to take him to the Castle
of Raby, but he was not to be allowed to remain more than eight
days after the Scots came to his presence.

This conference, also, came to nothing and James returned to
London, whence in May, I4i8,39 he was removed to Kenil worth,
where he seems to have remained40 until March 7, I42O,41 as on
this day Sir John Rushworth received one hundred pounds for his
expenses.

Meanwhile the Franco-Scottish alliance was giving no little
trouble to Henry V. Albany had allowed a Scottish contingent
to serve in France, and Henry, thinking to influence the Scots by
the presence of their king in the English army, brought James
from his prison to join him at Melun. James journeyed by way
of Southampton, where he was on May 6, I42O.42 On July 12
he received money for armour, wearing apparel, horses, and lances
for himself and his company. James was associated in his command
with Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester.43

Earlier historians invented a telling dialogue between the two
kings : " King Henry desirit the said James to pas to the Scottis
in France and command thame in his name to return to Scotland,"
and he promised to remit his ransom and send him to Scotland
with great riches and honour. " James considers himself, but says
he has no power as long as he is a private- man and kept in cap
tivity." Whereupon King Henry exclaimed : " Maist happy
peple sail thay be that happinnis to get yon nobil man to thair
prince !"44 Such romantic generosity was, unhappily, foreign to
the real nature of Shakespeare's Hero King of England. On the
surrender of Melun, Henry V. hanged his Scottish prisoners as
traitors on the ground that they had been fighting against their
own king.45 In the presence of such tyrannous cruelty James
was powerless.

Henry married the princess Katharine of France on June 27,
and towards the end of the year he returned to England with his
bride, and doubtless with the King of Scotland in his train.
Katharine was crowned on S. Valentine's Day 1421, and imme
diately thereafter the Court made a progress through the country.

LIFE OF KING JAMES I xxi.i

King James was with the royal party, and was present at a
banquet in the Queen's honour at Leicester on February 27.
" Fyrste the Queene satte in hyr astate, and the Archbyshope of
Cantyrbury and the Byschop of Wynchester sate on the ryght
syde of the Queen, and they were servyd next unto the quene,
every cours coveryde as the quenis, and on the lyft side was the
Kyng of Schottys sette on hys astate upon the lyfte syde of the
Quene that was servyd alle way neste the quene and the byschoppes
aforesaide."46 This triumphal progress, designed to end at York,
was cut short by the arrival of news of the battle of Bauge". There
on March 23, 1421, the subjects of King James helped to reward
the English King for his severity at Melun by defeating his
troops and killing his brother the Duke of Clarence.47 They also
captured the Earl of Somerset, future father-in-law of King James.
Later in the same year James gave emphatic indication of his
desire to be friendly with England. He consented to an indenture
of Archibald, Earl of Douglas, with the King of England, by
which instrument Douglas bound himself " to serve the King of
England and his heirs against all his enemies, the King of Scots
and his heirs excepted, with two hundred knights and squires and
two hundred mounted archers."48 On the following day Henry
intimated the terms on which he was willing to allow James to
visit Scotland.49 These terms throw some light upon the mood of
the English King, for practically they came to this. James was to
send to England as hostages all the chief prelates, noblemen, and
gentlemen of Scbtland, except the Duke of Albany and the Earl
of Douglas. Albany was to send his eldest son, and Douglas his
second son.60 It was a grotesque proposal made only that it might
be rejected, and it possibly undeceived James as to the graciousness
of his cousin the King of England. Nevertheless one seems to
read in the changed phraseology of legal documents a certain
growing kindness towards the captive King. In a safe-conduct,
October 14, 1421, he is "the King's dearest cousin, James, King
of Scots."61 Towards the close of the year James is once more in
the Tower of London.52 This captivity was varied by another
sojourn in France. He proved a good soldier : " What his valour
was the wars of France bear witness. For, accompanying the
King of England there, he laid siege to the town of Dreux, and

xxiv THE KINGIS QUAIR

with such violence and valour (saith the English History) assaulted
it for the space of six weeks that with main strength he compelled
it to be rendered into his hands and given to King Henry."52* On
August 25, 1422, Sir William Meryng and others were paid for
attendance upon him at Rouen and elsewhere for two hundred
and ten days.53 Within a week of this date Henry V. died at
Bois Vincent, and left as his successor the child Henry VI., whose
reign was to be even more unfortunate than that of James I. of
Scotland. James was with Queen Katharine when she brought
her husband's body to England,54 and thereafter he was at the
English Court.55 Whether the Lady Joan Beaufort was of the
Queen's circle we have no means of knowing ; probably she was.
He was at the palace of Westminster for twenty-four days, but
on February 17, 1423, he was in prison at Pontefract.66 Negotia
tions for his release begin again at this point, and henceforward,
until they are completed, we can trace with tolerable clearness in
official documents the progress of his love-suit and of his liberation,
which are to some extent bound up together.

On May 12, 1423, a safe-conduct is sent to the Bishop of
Glasgow, Chancellor of Scotland, and others coming to treat of
the deliverance of " our cousin, the King of Scots."57 Later in
the same month James is paid a hundred pounds for his private
expenses,58 and on June 30 warrant is given on a generous scale
for various payments on his account.60 A week later the com
missioners who are to treat with the Scottish ambassadors receive
their instructions which are singularly elaborate and diplomatic.
If the Scots ambassadors wish to have a private conference with
their King before the arrival of the Lord Chancellor the English
commissioners are to grant it, but not at once. They are to be
ill to persuade : " reddentes tamen se difficiles in hujusmodi
Licentia concedenda." They are to ask £40,000 as ransom, and
they may abate to £30,000, but no further. The English govern
ment was thus to be paid more than £1,500 a year for their
prisoner's maintenance, though the highest sum paid for him in
the later years of his captivity was £700 a year. The most
important private instruction related to a possible English marriage
for James. " Also, if the ambassadors from Scotland, for nourish
ing and preserving greater friendship, should seek covenants and

LIFE OF KING JAMES I xxv

alliances by marriage between the said King of Scots and any
noble lady of the realm of England, let the commissioners of the
said Lord, our King, make answer that the said King of Scots
knows many noble women, some even of the royal stock." " If
the King of Scots in these circumstances makes known his wishes,
the ambassadors are to communicate with him or his representa
tives more fully as time and circumstances permit. If nothing is
said by the Scots about marriage the English are not to mention
it, as the women of the realm of England, at least those of noble
birth, are not wont to offer themselves in marriage unsolicited."0

Plainly the English Council had grounds for believing that
James had formed an attachment to one of the ladies of the
Court, and perhaps wished to test his sincerity, for such an attach
ment might have been but a passing mood or even a diplomatic
move like Randolph's wooing of Mary Bethune. The language
of the instructions is as pointed as the circumstances allow, and
yet it is so guarded that no one could be compromised if James
and the Scots were silent on the subject. The Bishop of
Winchester, afterwards Cardinal Beaufort, had probably en
couraged the royal love match, for the Duke of Gloucester, when
he attacked him in 1440 for advising the liberation of Charles
d'Orle"ans, made it a ground of accusation, in a letter to Henry VI.,
that he had done the like for the King of Scots. " Item as in your
tendre age the saide cardinal, thanne being bishop of Winchestre
and chauncellier of England, delivered the king of Scottes upon
certaine appointments, as may be shewed and is presumed to be
doen by auctorite of parlement, where in dede I have herd full
notable men of the Lower House saye that they never hard of it
amonges them which was to great defraudacion to youre highnesse,
and al to wedde his nece to the saide kyng, whom my lord youre
fader (whom God assoile) wolde never have so delivered. And
when he should have paied for his costs xl. m. 1. the saide cardinal,
so being chauncellier, caused you to pardonne hym x. m. marc,
and as of the grete some he paied you right litel I reporte me to
youre highnesse."61

Murdoch, Duke of Albany, who had succeeded his father as
Governor of Scotland in I42O,62 issued his commission to the
Scottish ambassadors at Inverkeithing on August 19, 1423**

xxvi THE KINGIS QUAIR

On September n, in the chapter-house of York Minster the
conditions of the King's release were agreed to, and among the
articles of agreement there was one that it seemed expedient that
the said lord, King James, should contract a marriage with some
high-born lady of the realm of England. The terms of ransom
were very oppressive. A total of £40,000 was to be paid in
yearly sums of 10,000 merks, the last instalment of which might
be remitted. This agreement shows that the Scots had not
" haggled " over the bargain. The Scottish ambassadors had not
been instructed about the names and rank of the hostages — which
omission looks like a bit of " slimness " on the part of Murdoch.
James was to go on March i, 1424, to Durham or to the Castle
of Brainspath near Durham that he might be able to treat with
nobles of his blood and subjects of his kingdom, who were to be
his hostages.64 All details, however, had been settled before
March i, 1424, for on December 4, 1423, four of the Scottish
commissioners had signed letters declaring the terms of payment,
the date and place where hostages were to be delivered, and the
obligations of the four chief Scottish burghs, Edinburgh, Perth,
Aberdeen, and Dundee.66 There was a stipulation that the father
of a hostage was not to disinherit his son. The obligations of the
four burghs were guaranteed, February 16-20.

In anticipation of his freedom, and the marriage which was to
crown it, James had spent his Christmas in Hertford Castle with
Queen Katharine. He was married to Joan Beaufort by the
Bishop of Winchester at the church of St. Mary Overy, South-
wark, on S. Valentine's Eve, I424.66 The entry in the chronicle
of William Gregory is amusing. " And that same year in the
monythe of Feverer the Stywarde of the Kings of Scottys whose
name was Jamys weddyd the Erlys daughter of Somerset at Synt-
Mary Overes."67 As dowry James received remission of ten
thousand merks of his ransom.08 After a brief honeymoon in
London the young King and Queen set out for Scotland in March.
The concluding act of the diplomatic bargaining took place at
Durham where hostages were delivered, and where on March 28
James agreed to a truce with England for seven years from May
following.69 On the same day he took an oath that " within four
days to be computed from the first day of his entry into his own

LIFE OF KING JAMES I xxvii

kingdom he would promise solemnly, and on his royal word would
swear upon the Holy Scriptures of God, by him corporally
touched, that he would fully and faithfully do and fulfil all and
several the things agreed upon in the instruments for his liberation."70
This agreement was carried out at Melrose on April 5, " in the
nineteenth year of our reign," and a letter confirming it was sent
to the Bishop of Durham by the hands of William Scott, Master
in Arts.71 In the Bishop's absence the letter was to be delivered
to the Prior of the monastery of Durham.

From Melrose onward King James and his consort made a
royal progress amid the acclamations of their subjects, who had
high hopes of a reign opening thus with liberty regained and their
King's most happy marriage.

Ill

REIGN

King James and Queen Joan kept Easter in Edinburgh, not long
thereafter journeying to Perth, then the capital, and on May 21 they
were crowned at Scone.1 Their joint reign lasted nearly thirteen
years. It was marked by a singularly close affection between royal
husband and wife as well as by a public policy which shews that
James I. may rightly be regarded as in many ways the greatest and
most enlightened of Scottish sovereigns. Some comprehension of
the King's nature is necessary if we are to estimate aright the poems
commonly attributed to him, and his character comes out in his
legislation as well as in what is known of his private life. For
James's public policy, in so far as it made of the Scottish people a
nation with worthy ideals and a spirit of loyalty to the Crown,
and, indeed, in so far as it failed of the complete success which it
deserved, was due to a certain poetic ardour, and to the moral
severity of an idealism which underrated the temper and un-
scrupulousness of the men whose injurious privileges and ex
travagant power he steadily sought by force of law to restrain.
There is in him an imaginative strain, a quick feeling for men
as men, a tender solicitude for the poorer members of the com
monalty, and there is a corresponding resentment against the
independence and ambition of many of his nobles, who were too

xxviii THE KINGIS QUAIR

often as antagonistic to royal authority as they were regardless
of the rights of the poor, and of the general welfare of the
country. In this idealism and in concern for the dim common
population he was the true ancestor of all the Stuarts except
James VI. and Charles II., the two who died comfortably in their
beds. In his pure and affectionate family life, and in the studied
deference which he shewed to his Queen there is the same
chivalrous temper ; and the end of all came, because, idealist as
he was, he mis-read the character of a crafty old kinsman whom
he had benefited, the spirit of an enemy whom he had perhaps
wronged, and of a young cousin and courtier for whom he
cherished a too warm and trusting affection. In this also he was
the ancestor of all the more amiable Stuarts. For his idealism
made him blind to the dangerous side of those whom he favoured.
Rightly to interpret the leading features of the reign it is
necessary to bear in mind not only the idealistic temper of the
King but also the experience through which he had passed before
he came to the throne. For eighteen years he had lived a life
which made knowledge of men difficult, and knowledge of his own
countrymen, save a few personal attendants, impossible. Not less
important is this fact : the government of Albany and his son,
by its avowedly temporary and make-shift character, aggravated
certain evils in the Scottish body politic. Bower, who is de
cidedly favourable to the elder Albany, says : " He governed
virtuously : and if under his rule any crimes were committed by
the powerful he patiently overlooked them for the time ; and
those evils he understood how to reform when a fitting oppor
tunity offered, or to effect improvement according to his wishes,
giving heed to the sentiment of Claudian : * Quod violenta
nequit, peragit tranquilla potestas.'"2 These opportune reforms
Bower does not mention in detail, and as the parliamentary
records of Albany's government are all but wholly lost, it is not
possible to estimate the character of his legislation. Murdoch
Bower dismisses in a couple of sentences. " He was too remiss
in government, wherefore his sons became more insolent than
was right, doing what they pleased, not what was lawful, and
they were punished when the King came to his own."3 This is
emphasised when Bower speaks of what was told to James on the

LIFE OF KING JAMES I xxix

first day of his entering into his kingdom that "government was
slack and that his subjects were exposed to theft, fraud and
rapine." This statement called forth the memorable answer that
" if he lived, even if but the life of a dog, by the help of God he
would make the key keep the castle and the furze bush the cow,
throughout the realm."4

More than common heed must also be paid to the character
of the King's uncle, Walter Stuart, Earl of Atholl. (He had been
energetic in procuring the liberation of the King.)6 Bower, and
the unknown author of the account of the King's death trans
lated by Shirley,6 as well as the writer of the Chronicon yacobi
Primi Regis Scottorumy who calls him " that old serpent of evil
days,"7 all take a most sinister view of his character. He is
credited with being the real instigator of the murder of Rothesay.
He was one of the Court that condemned Duke Murdoch and
his sons. He enjoyed the fruits of the King's annexation of the
earldom of Strathearn though he had been guardian of Malise
Graham who was deprived of it. And he was in the plot for the
King's murder which was made possible by the treachery of his
grandson. The Earl of Atholl was thus a most dangerous coun
sellor to have the ear of an eager-minded poetic young King who
did not know his countrymen.

King James had frequent and regular parliaments. He intro
duced the principle of representative government and instituted a
Supreme Court of Justice, The Session, and he had an advocate
appointed for the poor. He caused the laws of the kingdom to
be codified, enacting that new laws should be expressed in the
vernacular and be formally and fully published for the informa
tion of the people. A register of charters was begun, and
tenants of lands throughout the kingdom were granted certain
rights and a measure of security of tenure. Leases were not to
end when the feudal lord transferred his rights to another. The
vagrant poor were discriminated into two classes — one to be re
pressed as idle, the other to have special privileges as the King's
Bedesmen. Crops were protected from violent or heedless injury
and a close-time was fixed for fishing. The Commons were
commanded to consider the welfare of the kingdom more than
their own pleasure. Archery was therefore encouraged by law

xxx THE KINGIS QUAIR

and football forbidden. The very lepers were considered, no less
than the public safety, and set days were appointed on which
they might go to the burghs and obtain their modest provisioning.
As the law was for all, and not for common folk only, the
greater barons and great lords were also made the subject of
special legislation. Their private wars and public feuds were
forbidden and the number of retainers whom they might take
with them on journeys through the country was limited, as were
the places and manner of their entertainment. Strict inquiry was
made into the royal revenues and into grants to private persons,
also into the dilapidation of the Crown property. We have
already seen the kind of appeal made by the King in his
captivity to the good burgesses of Perth8 because his uncle did
not give him his due, or indeed, so far as appears, any share of
the Crown revenue. The King's deliberate purpose was to
strengthen the Crown and to subject the great feudal lords to
the central government. This general policy was bound to lead
to rigorous treatment of individual noblemen, as they all possessed
in their own dominions powers which made them possible public
enemies with means of doing incalculable mischief. It is in this
connection that James has been most severely condemned by
historians. In 1424, before his coronation, and on a charge
which Bower does not mention, Walter Stewart, heir of Duke
Murdoch, Malcolm Fleming of Cumbernauld, and Thomas Boyd,
younger of Kilmarnock, were arrested and thrown into prison.
One is tempted to associate the Earl of Atholl with this un
explained move on the part of the King. Yet the'young men
may have fallen into some English entanglement. Later in the
same year, the Earl of Lennox, Murdoch's father-in-law, and
Sir Robert Graham were arrested. In the Spring of the following
year Duke Murdoch and his two sons were brought to trial along
with Lennox, and all were found guilty of treason and executed.
Graham was not tried but set at liberty, and eventually he
met a fate by the side of which beheading would have been
compassion.

In 1427 Malise Graham, Earl of Strathearn, who was a hostage
in England, was deprived of his estates and title on the plea that
this heritage could not pass in the female line.9 He was made

LIFE OF KING JAMES I xxxi

Earl of Menteith by way of compensation, and the life-rent of
Strathearn was given to the Earl of Atholl, who was meanwhile
the only person benefited by what was undoubtedly an act of
oppression. Whether Atholl encouraged it or not can only be
matter of conjecture. It enraged Sir Robert Graham who was
Menteith's uncle, and who had his own previous arrest full in
mind. The annexation was a grave injustice, unless there were
other circumstances undisclosed, and now unknown. Neverthe
less, in palliation of James's action there is something to be said.
He could not be familiar with Scottish law and practice. He was
smarting under the loss of Crown property and revenue through
out the eighteen years of the regency of the two Albanys, and
this great domain of Strathearn had been the property of his
uncle, Atholl's elder brother David. As the Grahams were
plainly hostile, James was too easily persuaded to make bad law
take the place of justice.

In 1434 the Earl of March was deprived of his title and estates,
on the ground that Governor Albany had exceeded his powers
when he restored them three years after the capture of James by
the English, on what conditions can only be conjectured. Parlia
ment approved the recall of the grant and March was offered the
Earldom of Buchan. March was the son of a traitor, as Earl of
March he held the key to the kingdom of Scotland, and he could
open the gate to the English enemy at any moment. At the time
when March was deprived there were serious complications with
the English government which was resentful of the marriage
arranged between the Dauphin and the Princess Margaret. Indeed
England was the resort of every Scottish traitor from the death of
Alexander III. to the Union of the Crowns, and James, through
his Queen, had better means of knowing what was going on in
that country than any of his predecessors. Whatever may be said
against these particular acts, they were at least grounded upon
reasons of state, and the policy of which they were a part was
a sound policy. They were designed to remedy old wrongs by
which the Crown had been injured. Neither Kings nor Commons
readily come to the conviction that to correct one injustice by
another is not wisdom. Looking to all the circumstances and to
the after-history of Scotland we must acknowledge that it was no

xxxii THE KINGIS QUAIR

small calamity that James did not succeed in wholly subduing his
nobility, or live long enough to accomplish other labours which he
had begun with energy and wisdom.

The only public protest was made in Parliament by Sir Robert
Graham who thought he had the nobles with him, and who laid
violent hands on the King and announced that he arrested him in
the name of the Three Estates.10 He was alone in his outrage,
and James contented himself with sending him into exile and
confiscating his estates, a misplaced clemency which Scotland was
bitterly to rue. Graham fled to the Highlands and defied the
King, by act and letter renouncing his allegiance.

Another phase of this determination to strengthen the central
authority the King shewed in his dealings with the Celtic chief
tains of the Highlands and Islands. His seventy and his occasional
well-timed clemency made for the union of Highlands and Low
lands. Few incidents in the picturesque annals of Scotland are
more quaintly striking than the appearance of Alexander, Lord of
the Isles, " in camisia et femoribus tantum indutus, genibus flexis,"
before the high altar of the Abbey Church of Holyrood casting
himself upon the mercy of the King. It was an appropriate sequel
to his stern dealings with the* Highland leaders at the Parliament
of Inverness in 1427 and to his victory over Alexander in 1429
in Lochaber.

In no aspect of his policy was the King more public-spirited
and judicious than in his dealings with the Church and with
Churchmen. His experience of Bishop Wardlaw and of Cardinal
Beaufort had shewn him the goodwill and the capacity of eccle
siastics. He confirmed the clergy in their rights, but he gave
them no exemption from taxation. He sought to keep them
Scotsmen as well as Churchmen. They were forbidden except
under reasonable conditions to leave the country, and, under
penalties, to make interest at Rome for pensions from benefices.
In his second Parliament the King had formally addressed the
Abbots and Priors and had exhorted them to see that greater heed
should be given to the rules of their orders, to the holding of
general chapters, and to greater austerity of life. And he was not
content merely to give counsel. He took an active interest in the
extension of monasticism and founded a Carthusian convent at

LIFE OF KING JAMES I xxxiii

Perth. He freely sought the advice of the clergy, but he never
leant unduly upon them, and he loved justice more than the
Church or Church privileges. His Parliament of 1427 dealt with
the dilatoriness of Church Courts in civil causes and laid down
rules for more expeditious procedure, dealing as well with frivolous
appeals and making the presiding ecclesiastic liable in a penalty if
he delayed more than forty days in giving judgment or allowed
appeal upon trivial points. This statute, as we shall see, brought
the King and his advisers into conflict with the Pope.

James had a love of knowledge and a favour for learned men.
Boece notes in this connection what he did for the University of
St. Andrews. " He broucht in Scotland xviii Doctoures of
Theology, viii Doctoures of Decreis with many other expert
men in al science and promovit thame to sindry prelacyis."11
Fresh light has been shed upon James's interest in learning and
upon his comparatively free attitude to the Church by a discovery
of Mr. Maitland Anderson, University Librarian at St. Andrews.
The King, as we have already noted, was nominally at least at
the head of the movement for Papal recognition of the Foundation
of the University. Nevertheless, in 1426, in his own name he
petitioned Pope Martin V. to sanction the transference of the
University to St. John's town or Perth, "because St. Andrews
was near the sea and exposed to danger from wars and dissensions
with England, while Perth was in the heart of the kingdom and
had a mild climate and abundance of victuals of all kinds."12
The Pope's reply to the King himself is not known. He remitted
the petition for inquiry and report to the Bishops of Glasgow and
Dunblane, and it is from his letter of instruction to these prelates
that knowledge of the King's design has come to us.13 In spite of
his failure to transfer the University to the civil capital of his
kingdom King James granted on March 20, 1432, and on
March 31 confirmed certain privileges to all its members from
the Rector and Deans of Faculties to the bedelli and scholars.
They were all taken " into the King's firm peace, keeping and
maintenance and fully exempted from all tributes, gifts, actions,
taxings, watchings, guardings, and payments." There is a certain
imaginative touch even in the charter. The grant is made " for
cherishing and advancing the prosperous and happy state Almae

3

xxxiv THE KINGIS QUAIR

Universitatis Sli Andreae filiae nostrae quam dilectae."14 The
terms of the charter shew appreciation of men of learning :
" These are they who give light to the multitude of the Lord's
flock,15a and make known the straight way to the runners in the
stadium, who by the fruit of good work allure some to virtue and
by example draw others to desire of divine knowledge." The
King was not content with this act of generosity to his " beloved
daughter." He was present at a meeting with the Bishop, Prior,
and others, probably at St. Andrews, on March 18, 1429, when
statutes were made for the Faculty of Theology and regulations
were prescribed for graduation in the same.15b He continued to
take an active interest in the teaching and discipline of the Schools,
and made it effective by an Appunctamentum which in Novem
ber, 1432, he sent to the Faculty of Arts by William de Foulis,
Keeper of the Privy Seal. In the minutes of the Faculty the
King's initials I.R. appear. By this instruction, for such it was,
the Dean of the Faculty of Arts was made a kind of Inspector-
general of the different Schools with the three senior masters as
assistants. He was to pay weekly visits and to allow no student,
save for sufficient reason and with formal permission, to pass from
one School to another. Masters and students were instructed to
cultivate closer fellowship by attendance at one another's weekly
disputations. The moral tone was to be improved by careful
restraint of students from all excess.150

James adopted the attitude of his age towards heresy. Lollardism,
as in England, was looked upon as a public danger. Resby, a
Wycliffite priest, had been burned at Perth by Albany early in the
King's captivity. The Parliament of 1425 passed an Act against
Lollards and all heretics, and it did not remain a dead letter, for
on July 23, 1433, Paulus Crawar, Teutonicus, was put to death
at St. Andrews. He was thus the St. Andrews proto-martyr.
Yet by some oversight Crawar's name does not appear on a very
ugly obelisk which commemorates the early martyrs of the Refor
mation and disfigures one of the finest prospects in the old gray
town.

James's foreign policy was as enlightened as his home legislation.
He steadily sought to be friendly with England and at the same
time to maintain the alliance with France. His reign began with

LIFE OF KING JAMES I xxxv

a seven years' truce, and he kept to a peace policy until it was
broken by the English, who were indignant at the strengthening
of the French alliance in 1428 by the betrothal of the Princess
Margaret to the Dauphin. A method of counter-attraction was
attempted. Cardinal Beaufort went to Scotland and met the
King. The meeting was arranged " for certain great and notable
causes affecting the state of the Catholic Faith and the honour and
usefulness of the Universal Church as well as the honour and weal
of the two kingdoms."16 At Edinburgh on December 15, 1430,
a truce was signed. It was to hold from sunset on May i, 1431,
till May I, 1436," but on November 24, 1435, King James issued
a commission to prorogue the truce.18 A forward movement had
been made by the English in 1433 wnen Lord Scrope was sent to
offer the restoration of Roxburgh and Berwick and all that had
formerly belonged to Scotland, if the Scottish government would
break the league with France. Bower, who was a member of the
Parliament which considered these proposals, was a strenuous
opponent of the pro-English policy, and had as chief supporter the
Abbot of Scone. The opposition to the English overtures was
successful, and Bower adds : " It was eventually discovered that
the English design was to create a division in our kingdom."19
Tytler20 blames the clergy for what he supposes to be an obstinate
refusal to accept terms advantageous to the country. But to have
broken thus with France would have been a practical surrender to
the tender mercies of England. James knew only too well the
fixed determination of the English rulers. His capture and long
imprisonment and such pressure as he had been subjected to had
all one object made clear by the letter of Henry V.n already
quoted, namely, the signing away of the independence of Scotland
and the establishment of an English suzerainty. Indeed this hope
of the English government remained a factor in international
politics down to the reign of Henry VIII.22

An unsuccessful raid was made by the English under Sir
Robert Ogle in September, 1435, and fresh cause of resentment
was given by an attempt in the Spring of 1436 to capture the
Princess Margaret on her way to France. At length James
moved against them by laying siege to Roxburgh Castle in
August, 1436. But the expedition had lasted only for fifteen

xxxvi THE KINGIS QUAIR

days when the Queen arrived suddenly before the castle with
some information for the King which led him to abandon the
enterprise. James was a brave man, like many lovers of peace,
and the meaning of this inglorious conclusion to an apparently
hopeful undertaking can only be guessed at. The writer of the
Chromcon says that the failure " was due to a detestable schism
and villainous division springing from envy."23 Tytler conjectures
that the Queen had brought information of some conspiracy at
home.24 If later English intriguing in Scotland during the reigns
of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth may help towards accurate in
ference — and there was a wonderful sameness in Southern
methods as well as in the one main design — the visit of Scrope
and the discussion of his proposals were probably coincident with
the forming of a secret English party among the nobles. With
respect to France James's policy was equally clear-sighted. He
was friendly but never subservient, and never blind to the
interests of Scotland. He came to an understanding with Norway
about the Western Isles which had been held by feudal tenure
since 1266 with more than the usual carelessness about payment
of dues to the overlord ; and he had equal success in settling
trade disputes with Holland.

Good Churchman though he was James did not altogether
escape conflict with the Pope. Yet the cause of the controversy,
in its substance if not in its form, was honourable alike to the
King and his Parliament. It arose from the Act for more
expeditious determination of civil causes in Ecclesiastical Courts.
Parliament had invaded the sphere of the Church by the clause
of the Act which ordained that the statute should also be passed
by the Provincial Council then sitting.25 This wrong, attempted
by giving instruction to a Spiritual Court, was aggravated in the
eyes of the Pope by the fact that the Chancellor of the kingdom,
Cameron, Bishop of Glasgow, was a party to it. The Pope
summoned Cameron to Rome. James would not allow him to
leave the country, and deprived William Croyser, Archdeacon of
Teviotdale, who had cited him to the Papal Court, of all his
benefices in Scotland. The Pope retaliated, and on May 8, 1435,
annulled all the proceedings against Croyser.26 He also wrote to
James in very courteous and flattering terms denouncing his evil

LIFE OF KING JAMES I xxxvii

advisers the prelates, who had sacrificed the rights of the Church.27
A complete rupture was avoided by the King's conciliatory
attitude. He sent envoys to Rome to request the despatch of a
legate, and the Pope appointed Antonio of San Vita, Bishop of
Urbino, who arrived in Scotland before Christmas, 1436. An
audience was fixed at Perth for the opening of Parliament on
February 4, 1437.

A distinguished visitor had come to Scotland in the winter of
J435» This was Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, not then in orders
but by and by to rule the Catholic world as Pius II. His account
of his visit is full of interest as a revelation of his own character
and as descriptive of some things in Scotland, but it sheds no
light on the character of the King and gives not a glimpse of
the royal court or household.28 Ostensibly he came from the
Cardinal of Santa Croce to persuade the King to take again into
favour some bishop who is not named. Sheriff Mackay thinks
that both of these missions were designed " to procure the ad
hesion of James to the treaty of Arras."29

While these manifold public transactions were going forward
James's home life had been singularly happy. His marriage had
been a love-match and it remained so. By his public acts and
private conduct he shewed how greatly he held the Queen in
honour. She was crowned with him. In one of his early
Parliaments every bishop was enjoined to ordain that "every
priest, regular and secular, at the celebration of Mass should use
an appointed collect for the welfare of the King and Queen and
their children." On July 12, 1428, an Act was passed that the
successors of prelates and heirs of earls, barons, and freeholders
should be bound to take the same oath to the Queen as to the
King, while on January 15, 1434, all lords of Parliament, ecclesi
astical and secular, and all commissioners of burghs promised to
give their letters of submission and fidelity to our Lady the Queen.
Striking indirect testimony to the Queen's position in the royal
circle is given by Pope Eugenius II. When he wrote to the
King about the infringement of ecclesiastical privileges, he wrote
also to Queen Joan.30 The most complete revelation of the kind
of home-life led by King James and Queen Joan is to be found in
the records which bear upon the second of the two missions from

xxxviii THE KINGIS QUAIR

France in connection with the betrothal and marriage of the
Princess Margaret. The first, in 1428, which was headed by
the Archbishop of Rheims, John Stewart of Darnley Seigneur
d'Aubigny and Count of Evreux, and Alain Chartier, gives
nothing tangible save the eloquence of the poet orator who moved
his Scottish hearers by a pathetic account of the miseries of
France still struggling with the English enemy, and not yet saved
by the peasant saint who had at least one Scottish sympathiser in
her darkest hour of trial.31 The second mission32 was headed by
Regnault Girard, lord of Bazoches, who landed at Dumbarton
early in January, 1435, and remained in Scotland till late in the
Spring of 1436, as he landed at La Rochelle on May 5, with the
child-bride ; eleven and a half years she was, the same age as
her father when he was captured by the English.* Negotiations
about the marriage were spun out so long because the King
and Queen were reluctant to part with their daughter, and
finally when the parting came the King's emotion shewed how
truly he was giving away " a thrid of his own life." He caused
the ships of the French fleet to manoeuvre before him that he
might select the galley for his daughter ; and he shewed to Girard
very marked personal courtesy. The King " ordered me, Reg
nault Girard, to kiss the Queen, and the Queen kindly and
graciously saluted me ; which kiss I repute the greatest honour
ever bestowed on me." James cut short the parting with Mar
garet and went ashore weeping bitterly. Margaret, like her father,
had an idealistic nature ; she loved poetry and poets, and she
found hard fact too much for her with the Dauphin, who became
Louis XL, for a husband and calumny and neglect for her
portion.

King James and his Queen had ten children, one of whom,
Alexander, a twin brother of James II., died in infancy. All the
others were daughters and all survived their parents and made
marriages suitable to their rank. But Margaret is the only one
who plays a part to be noted during the lifetime of father or
mother. Happy in her children the Queen had one other joy

* The conditions of the marriage shew how little subservient he was to
France. " A town of her own was to be assigned in France to Margaret : a
Scotsman was to be in command and the guard to be a Scottish one ,- the
Princess must have Scottish ladies with her to keep her company."

LIFE OF KING JAMES I xxxix

rare in the family history of Stuarts or Beauforts. The King was
all her own. She had no Hagar and no Ishmael to mar her peace
and cloud her happiness.38 She was at the last to shew how brave
she was and how fully she responded to this pure affection.

The goodwill of the Pope and the cessation of the transient
war with England foreshadowed a happy Christmas for 1436 at
Perth, where the King had determined to hold the festival. The
Holy Season and the following weeks were spent with great mirth
and much feasting. As Lent drew near James had the Papal
legate as his father confessor and " by him he was absolved from
penance and from fault."84

Meanwhile Sir Robert Graham had been busy. His hostility
had not abated and he had planned to celebrate Christmas by
the slaughter of the King. But something hindered. Whether
Atholl, who was universally regarded as the arch-plotter, had
given a signal for delay cannot be decided. Certainly Atholl and
his grandson Robert Stuart, the King's private chamberlain, were
deep in the plot, and this kept the King unsuspicious and un
guarded. Graham, with certain former servants of the Duke of
Albany and three hundred wild Highlanders, stole into the
monastery an hour or two before midnight on February 2O, 1437.
The leaders burst into the King's chamber where they found him
in undress and without arms. He made a manful struggle for
life striking to the ground the leading assailants, but he was over
powered and slain, no fewer than twenty-eight wounds being
found after death on his breast alone.36 The Queen also was
grievously wounded, doubtless in a vain attempt to shield her
husband. A brother of the Earl of March, who was the first to
hear the din, fought valiantly with some of the assassins as they
were escaping. But he was too late to give effective help.
Entering the King's bedchamber he found him dead and bathed
in blood. The Papal legate, according to the writer of the
Chronicon, was summoned to see the dead King : " He wept and
cried aloud and kissed his wounds, and in the presence of all who
stood by he said that he believed on peril of his soul's salvation
that the King had died in a state of grace for the defence of the A
State and the furtherance of justice."88

The Queen at once displayed the most extraordinary energy for

xl THE KINGIS QUAIR

the apprehension of the murderers. All were speedily captured,
a sure indication that the King was beloved by the people. The
criminals were tortured in a fashion so barbarous that the recital
of it is heavy reading. Queen Joan acted in the spirit of the lover
in Fair Helen of Kirkconnel, and went beyond him far in the
extremity of her vengeance.

The after-story of the Queen is a second tragedy. In King
James there had passed away the only man in Scotland who had
either the vision or the strength to cope with the grasping and
unscrupulous band who took the leading part in national public
life. There was a fight for possession of the child-king and no
consideration whatever for the Queen-Mother. / She tried con
cession and diplomacy, and finally in self-defence married Sir
James Stewart, son of the Black Knight of Lorn. Stewart in
consequence of this marriage was a marked man. Some measure
of liberty was procured for him by the Queen's surrender of part
of her rights over her son. Nothing availed, however, for her
peace, and although the mother of three young children she was
made virtually a prisoner and taken to the Castle of Dunbar by
Patrick Hepburn of Hailes. She died on July 15, 1445, a few
weeks before her daughter, the Dauphiness, and found her last
resting place beside her husband in the church of the Carthusian
monastery which his piety had founded.

IV

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Bower dwells at great length upon King James's character as a
sovereign and his accomplishments as a man.37 He describes the
peace which prevailed during his reign and the spirit of confidence
due to his restraint of violence and to his effective administration
of justice. The King's writ ran everywhere and even a verbal
message cowed the most powerful — except Sir Robert Graham,
who for the moment has slipt from the historian's memory.

The King's accomplishments are so many and varied and his
skill in all is so very great that the reader is tempted to be
sceptical. He excelled in all manly sports. He ran, rode, and
walked with great speed and vigour. He was an excellent archer

LIFE OF KING JAMES I xli

and dexterously tilted at the ring. He threw the hammer, putted
the stone, and wrestled with unequalled skill and strength. He
was an accomplished musician, he sang, and played upon many
instruments. On the harp he was a second Orpheus, and he
excelled in Irish no less than in Scottish music. He was interested
in the mechanic arts, and he loved drawing, painting, gardening,
and forestry. He was an earnest student, and gave himself eagerly
to literary composition and to the art of writing ; while with a
scarcely credible fervour he loved knowledge of the Scriptures.

Bower, however, names no single writing of the King, but
his statement implies that the King was an author both in prose
and verse. From Bower's day onward testimony to the King's
literary gifts is uniform, except in fragmentary and partial work
like the Chronicon. The first to specify individual works is Major,38
who names poems entitled Tas Sen and At Beltayn, and describes
the Kingis Quair. Hector Boece mentions no single composition,
but is like Bower perfectly general, only more emphatic. The
King " knew thoroughly grammar, oratory, and poetry, and he
composed such finished poems in the vernacular tongue that the
reader would believe him to be a born poet."39 From Boece
to Buchanan Scottish historians confirm the tradition, but they
are plainly indebted to their predecessors, whose language they
simply vary and embellish. Indeed Boece, Bellenden, Leslie, and
Buchanan found upon Bower and Major, and no one would infer
from the language of any of them but Buchanan that the writer
had a first hand acquaintance with any poems ascribed to James.

Where the Scottish historians fail English writers help a little.
Bale, in his Script orum illustrium Major is Britannia e Catalogue, has
this statement : " In the vernacular tongue he composed finished
poems ; in the Latin language, after the manner of his age, (he
wrote poems) which were confused and inartistic yet packed with
serious thought : and among other (writings in verse) when he
was a prisoner in England he composed in the English tongue :
On his future wife, one book ; Scottish Songs, one book ; Latin
Rhythms, one book ; and other poems which are approved by
many."40

Bale's testimony is quoted by Bishop Montague of Winchester
in his preface to the Works of King James VI. " James the First

xlii THE KINGIS QUAIR

writ divers books both in English and Latine verse. He writ also
as Baleus saith ' De uxore futura.'"40a Dempster41 goes beyond
Bale. He states that the King " wrote many things : among these
one book of most just laws and one book on Music " in addition
to the list given by Bale.

The Latin Rhythms have disappeared. All that remains of the
King's Latin verse is the couplet composed on the apprehension
of the Highland leaders at Inverness.* The poem On his future
wife is without doubt the Kingis Quairy found only in the Bodleian
MS., Arch. Selden B. 24. The Scottish songs may be Christis
Kirk on the Greney assigned to him in the Bannatyne MS., and
Peblis to the Play, which is found in the Maitland MS. but which
is not there assigned to any author. Language and style of
versification point to a considerably later date than 1437, and the
substance of the poems, which deal with various phases of Scottish
rustic merriment in the broadest spirit, makes a royal authorship
difficult of acceptance. There is not a tinge of culture or even a
casual phrase which would suggest the man of letters, nor does
anyone outside of the rank of the peasantry appear in the poems
even as a spectator. That a man of King James's ability could
have written in perfectly idiomatic Scots is likely enough, but
that he could have had such familiarity with it as to employ a
vocabulary so racy and so uncommon as is found in both of these
poems is not probable. Yet the two poems have a close affinity,
and suggest either a common author or the modelling of the one
poem on the other. One other poem is assigned to King James
in a late edition of the Gude and Godlie Ballatis.42" This is without
title and has the colophon Quod King James the First. The poem
is also in the Bannatyne MS., and there are many marked varia
tions in the text. An imperfect form is found in a Cambridge
MS.43 Professor Skeat, who has .entitled it Good Counsel^ has given
all the forms and also an amended text. He accepts the royal
authorship, and there is no reason for rejecting it except the
absence of earlier testimony than 1578 and Bannatyne's failure to
name the poet. It is a purely Scottish poem, and reminds a reader

* Ad turrim fortem ducamus caute cohortem :
Per Christ! sortem meruerunt hi quia mortem.

(Scotichr., ii., p. 489.)

AUTHENTICITY OF THE QUAIR xliii

of the manner and spirit of Henryson. It is wholly didactic, and
is as unlike Christis Kirk on the Grcne and Peblis to the Play as
Man was made to mourn is unlike The Jolly Beggars. If it could
be accepted as certainly the work of King James it would go far
to take the edge from the argument against his authorship of the
Kingis Quair on the ground of its extremely didactic character.44
It would thus fall into the class described by Bale as " other poems
approved by many."

II
AUTHENTICITY OF THE QUAIR

UNTIL the year 1896 acceptance of the testimony to King James
First's authorship of the Quair was uniform. Tytler, the first
editor, and Professor W. W. Skeat, the most recent, never sur
mised that doubt was possible. But we live in a critical age,
when works more venerable and infinitely more important are
no longer assigned to their traditional authors. Indeed, the
wonder is that, in centuries so critical as the eighteenth and
nineteenth, the authenticity of the Quair remained so long
unchallenged. The first adverse note was sounded by Mr. J. T. T.
Brown,1 who sought to dissipate the traditional belief and to gain
acceptance of a counter-theory that the poet was some Scot
writing comparatively late in the fifteenth century under the
influence of The Court of Love. Whatever may be thought of the
cogency of his arguments, Mr. Brown's criticism is neither halting
nor hesitating. To begin with, he demurs to Dr. Skeat's descrip
tion of the language of the poem as a dialect in which "the
author abandons the grammar used in the Lowlands of Scotland
and attempts to imitate all the inflections of the Midland dialect
of Chaucer."2 In Mr. Brown's opinion the artificiality of the
language of the poem is unduly emphasised. It is manifestly
the work of a Scottish poet, writing for the most part in Low
land Scots, but using occasionally southern forms and idioms.
This fact alone discredits James's authorship, as he could
not have used his native dialect freely after an eighteen years
absence from Scotland, which he left in his twelfth year.

xliv THE KINGIS QUAIR

Mr. Brown also disputes the authenticity of the autograph Croydon
letter of 30 November, I4I2.3 This is in Lowland Scots which
has no English admixture. He bases his rejection on the fact that
though the document is a charter it never passed the Great Seal
and is unwitnessed.4 Besides, the language, as he avers, is of a
later cast than the Scottish dialect of 1412. So far from being a
possible work of King James I. the Quair belongs to a group of
northern poems which had their origin between 1440 and 1480,
and were avowed imitations of Chaucer. The poem stands none
of the tests for early fifteenth century Scots. In it are found
" certain French words used by Scottish writers only after 1440.
It has the plural form quhllkis^ the distinguishing adjective ane
before words beginning with a consonant, the preterite and
preterite participle in yt or ity and the pronouns thaire and thame.
The verb to do is used in the emphatic conjugation.5 The poem
also shews traces of The Court of Love, as is evident from the use
of such words and phrases as balas^ smaragdyney lufis dance. There
are also " affinities in thought, framework, and diction," and these
are stated in detail. They amount to "proof of the proposition
that the Scottish author had The Court of Love in his view when
composing The Kingls Quair."6 ^

The autobiographical element is as little consistent with James's
authorship as are the language and literary substance of the poem.
The poet asserts that he set sail in March (stanzas xx, cxci).
The statement is not accurate, as Fleming of Cumbernauld who
accompanied the prince to the port of embarkation was killed in
the middle of February, 1406. Indeed, according to reasonable
inference from English accounts of James's capture, he was
probably made prisoner late in February or early in March. As
the statement is inaccurate, King James cannot have written the
poem which contains it. The poet is further in error as to the
age of the captive prince :

Noght fer passit the state of Innocence
Bot nere about the nowmer of ^eris thre.

He was eleven and a half. The history is thus not autobiography,
but is borrowed from Wyntoun's Orygynale Crony kily as is shewn
by the use of the word puruait in stanza xxiii. Although

AUTHENTICITY OF THE QUAIR xlv

Mr. Brown does not unduly press the point he naturally describes
as prophecy after the event the lines :

And thus this flouris, I can scye no more,
So hertly has unto my help attend it,
That from the deth hir man sche has defendit.

Another point he does press. The poet seems to know only one
prison, and writes as if the prince whom he personates had for
eighteen years been confined in one castle. Now James was
moved from the Tower of London to Windsor, and to Nottingham
and elsewhere. Yet of these frequent changes the writer of the
Quair seems to have no knowledge. The marriage of James so
far from being a romantic attachment, as the poem everywhere
implies, was a common state affair carried through in the usual
prosaic fashion.

Much stress is laid by Mr. Brown upon external evidence. He
takes his point of departure from an entry on folio 120 of the
MS. " Nativitas principis nostri Jacobi quarti anno dni mmo
iiijc Ixxij0 xvij die mensis march', videlicet in festo sancti Pa/ricii
confessor/j. In monasterio sancte crucis prope Edinburgh.'* This
entry must have been written in or after 1488, when James IV.
succeeded his murdered father, and before September 1513, when
he fell at Flodden. Mr. Brown indeed goes further, and contends
that 1488 is the earliest possible date of the MS. itself.

He admits the importance of the title and colophon, but hastens
to add that the value of the testimony depends upon the accuracy
of anonymous scribes who rightly attribute/^ poems to Chaucer,
and who wrongly attribute other five to the same poet. The
remaining poems in the MS. volume are The Kingis Quair and
The Quare ofjelusy, which latter poem has an imperfect colophon
— Quod Auch. The testimony of Scottish historians is quoted
and commented on. Bower, Boece, Bellenden, Leslie, and George
Buchanan are all dismissed. Major is accepted as the sole
authority other than the MS. for ascribing to James any poems in
the vernacular. But Major's statement is subjected to rigorous
examination and is minimised because he wrote eighty years or
more after the death of King James. Major mentions, besides
the " artificiosum libellum de regina," two vernacular poems
Tas Sen and At Eeltayn. Mr. Brown identifies At Beltayn with

xlvi THE KINGIS QUAIR

Peblis to the Play, which opens with the words " At Beltayn,"
and as this last poem is now generally believed to be much later
in date than 1437 he pronounces Major's testimony to The Kingis
Quair to be almost " worthless at best."

Not only is historical testimony narrowed to Major, and Major
thus discredited, but a fresh argument is based upon the silence of
William Dunbar in his Lament for the Makaris, of Sir David
Lyndsay in his Testament and Complaynt of the Papyngo, where
eight poets are named ;7 and of King James VI. in his Reulis and
CauteltSy for he never alludes to the poetic performances of his
royal ancestor.

The reference to Lyndsay is singularly unfortunate. In The
Testament and Complaynt of the Papyngo Lyndsay implies that James
was a poet, as is evident from the stanza devoted to him in the
Second Epistyl of the Papyngo, directit to her Brethir of Courte :

Kyng James the Firsty the patroun of prudence,

Gem of ingyne and peirll of polycie,
Well of Justice, and flude of eloquence,

Quhose vertew doith transcend e my fantasie,
For tyll discryve ; ^it, quhen he stude moste hie,
Be fals exhorbitant conspiratioun
That prudent Prince was pieteouslie put doun.

(Laing's Ed., vol. i., p. 77.)

He even knows the Quair and quotes from it in the same Epistyl :

And spairis nocht the Prince more than the paige,
which is surely a reminiscence of K. Q. st. ix. 11. 4, 5 :

Is non estate nor age
Ensured more the prynce than the page.

Lyndsay's allusion indeed suggests an amendment of the text.
(Vid. note on K. Q. in loco.)

This novel theory made few converts. The most notable is
Professor Hume Brown, if he may be called a convert, for he
thinks that Mr. Brown has reached his conclusion " on probably
insufficient grounds."8 Professor J. H. Millar, in A Literary
History of Scotland? provisionally accepts the traditional view but
he keeps an open mind : " The anti-Jacobites have failed to prove
their negative and to upset the testimony of tradition." Professor
Gregory Smith, who does not discuss the arguments, is very
emphatically on the side of tradition. "A recent attempt to

AUTHENTICITY OF THE QUAIR xlvii

place the text later than The Court of Love has led to a careful
sifting of all the evidence, actual and circumstantial, with the
result that the traditional view has been established more firmly.
There is no reason to doubt that the story was written by James
himself."10

Painstaking critics of the new theory have been numerous.
Dr. A. H. Millar wrote a number of interesting letters in The
Athenaum in 1896 after the publication of Mr. Brown's book,
and followed these up in December, 1899, by a special article
on the MS. of the Quair. Mr. R. S. Rait, M.A., of New College,
Oxford, gave a detailed examination of it in a pamphlet ; u
Mr. T. F. Henderson discussed it fully,12 and M. Jules J. Jus-
serand, who has also written a delightful little volume which he
calls The Romance of a King's Life, has expanded an Atheneeum
letter13 into a full and detailed examination — Jacques I** d*Ecosse
Jut-ilPoete?™

As M. Jusserand is most elaborate, and is as confident as any, in
his reply to the New Criticism^ he is entitled to precedence in any
statement of the case for the King's authorship. He agrees with
all who have considered the MS. that it was copied by Scottish
scribes at some date during the second half of the fifteenth century.
As the note about James Fourth's birthday, on folio 120, is in
the same handwriting as that of the poem immediately preceding,
this portion must have been copied in or after 1488, and before
Flodden.

In ascriptions of authorship the writers of the MS. are as often
right as wrong, and they err, where error is venial and common,
in attributing to Chaucer poems of his scholars. Being Scottish
scribes they are more likely to be right about a poem of Scottish
origin, especially when the reputed author is a King. The
testimony of the MS. itself is not single but double, for there
are two scribes, one of whom wrote the title and as far as
stanza clxxvii., the other the remainder including the colophon.
M. Jusserand further follows Dr. A. H. Millar in the happy con
jecture that one of the inscriptions in the MS. — liber Henrici
dm Sinclair — refers to Henry, Lord Sinclair, who came to the
title in 1488 and who fell on Flodden Field.* A signature on

* This Henry, Lord Sinclair, was a patron of literary men and had a keen
interest in poetry. He is expressly mentioned by Gavin Doughs in the preface

xlviii THE KINGIS QUAIR

folio 231 "Elizabeth Sinclar with my" is possibly the hand
writing of Elizabeth Keith who married William, Lord Sinclair,
Henry's son, and this lady was a great-grand-daughter of James I.
(M. Jusserand does not note the fact that the lady's husband was
a descendant of the Earl of Orkney who was James's guardian at
the time of his capture.) The argument from the silence of
Bower, Boece, and Lyndsay M. Jusserand meets with great effec
tiveness by presenting in Charles d'Orleans an exact parallel to
James I. Like James, Charles d'Orleans was an English prisoner
of war, and, though he was the greatest French poet of the
fifteenth century, yet, after his death in 1465, save for a vague
allusion by Martin Lefranc to " the book of the good Duke of
Orleans," the silence of French poets and historians about his
literary merits is complete. " All works which give lists of French
poets exclude him, and even Louis XII., who loved literature and
wrote verses, took no trouble to rescue from oblivion the works
of the poet whose son he was." All the world remained in
ignorance of the poetry of Charles until, in the eighteenth century,

and in the epilogue to his translation of the Aeneid as the friend and kinsman
at whose suggestion he undertook the work which he dedicates to him :

And at ye knaw at quhais instaunce I tuik
For to translait this mast excellent buik,
I mene Virgilis volume maist excellent,
Set this my werk full feble be of rent,
At the request of ane lord of renowne,
Of ancistry noble and illuster barowne,
Fader of bukis, protectour to science and lare,
My speciall gude lord, Henry Lord Sanct Clair,
Quhilk with grete instance diuers tymes seir,
Prayit me translait Virgill or Omeir,
Quhais plesour suithlie as I wnderstuid,
As neir coniunt to his lordschip in bluid,
So that me thocht his requeist ane command,
Half disparit this wark I tuik on hand,
Nocht fullie grantand, nor anis sayand $e,
Bot onelie to assay quhow it mycht be.

(Small's Douglas, vol. ii., p. 5.)

He is probably the unnamed lord to whom Henryson refers in the prologue to
his FabilliSj saying that his translation is undertaken

Nocht of my self for vane presumptioun,
But be requeist and Precept of ane Lord,
Of quhome the name it neidis not record.

(S. T. S. Ed., vol. ii., p. 4, 11. 1-5.)

AUTHENTICITY OF THE QUAIR xlix

Abbe" Claude Sallier disinterred his works which had been buried
in the Royal Library. Rene" of Anjou, another royal poet, had a
similar fate. His poems have only been printed within the present
generation. Silence in all these cases has a very simple explana
tion. These poets were princes by condition, not poets merely as
others were, and the personal note which gives an added charm
to their work for modern readers made them restrict knowledge of
their verse to a few intimate friends. M. Jusserand emphatically
repudiates Mr. Brown's interpretation of Bower and of Major.
Bower, indeed, does not mention the Quair. It would have been
surprising if he had known of its existence. He does speak how
ever of James's literary labour, "operi artis literatoriae complacenti
instabat curae." The words imply writing both in verse and
prose. Major, who expressly describes the Quair and indicates its
contents, is a critical writer. He bases his history wherever he
can upon writers who were contemporary with events, and he does
this with James I. Besides, while he attributes to the King a poem
At Eeltayn he nowhere says that At Beltayn is Peblis to the Play.
Beltayn was a popular May festival and many poems may have
opened with the words " At Beltayn." Major shews his critical
spirit by censure of a false quantity in the Latin couplet attributed
to James. Later historians M. Jusserand dismisses as but echoes
of Major. Buchanan he lays stress upon : " Latin verses rude, as
was then the fashion, he poured forth as occasion demanded.
Some poems written by him in English are still extant : in these
excellence of talent shines forth, but perhaps a more refined moral
substance might be demanded." 16 Bale's testimony, already quoted,
is singularly explicit.10

M. Jusserand gives also a detailed reply to arguments based
upon the language of the poem. He thinks it more than probable
that a Scottish boy in his twelfth year, who was attended throughout
his captivity by Scottish servants, might well maintain such famili
arity with Scottish speech as would account for the predominant
element in the poet's dialect. English influence from reading and
conversation would modify the native Scottish tongue, and the
product as we find it in the Quair is exactly what a reader might
look for. Occasional special forms can hardly be reasoned from
as they may be scribal errors, not the language of the poet. Certain

1 THE KINGIS QUAIR

manifest errors as well as certain corrections by scribes are to be
found in the MS., and in view of these no one can say that there
is in the MS. an actual text of the poem as it left the pen of
King James. Yet when Mr. Brown presses linguistic details he
presses them unwarrantably. The use of ane before a noun
beginning with a consonant is rare.17 The usage besides is found
in Wyntoun and Barbour18 who wrote earlier than James. The
only special French words noted by Mr. Brown occur in poems
earlier than 1440. Balas is in the Romance of the Rosey smaragdyne
(emerald), applied to eyes, finds a parallel in Dante and is not
merely a quaint conceit borrowed from The Court of Love. Indeed
The Court of Love is so generally accepted as a later work than the
Quair can possibly be that argument on this head is scarcely neces
sary. Apparent borrowings are often simply kindred poetic ideas
in which neither poet has any right of property.

The rejection of the autobiographical implications M. Jusserand
subjects to detailed examination. He matches the errors about
the poet's age and date of embarkation, if they be errors, which
he does not admit, by similar mistakes about their own careers
made by Victor Hugo and Napoleon I. The poem discloses
tender devotion to his Queen on the part of King James, and
although Mr. Brown is bold enough incidentally to question this
and to make the marriage a mere state arrangement, M. Jusserand
has no difficulty in shewing, as the biographical sketch has probably
made plain, that the instructions to the English Commissioners
imply a known attachment, and also that testimony as to the
King's deep affection for his wife is to be had. He endeavours
also to justify the statement of Wyntoun with respect to James's
capture on Palm Sunday, I4O5.19

Mr. Rait, whose essay was in print20 before M. Jusserand's
article appeared, follows the same line of argument. He is in
general more detailed and he has several pleas of his own. He
disposes of the argument from the silence of Dunbar, Lyndsay, and
James VI., in a wholly different fashion by shewing what accept
ance of it implies, and by shewing also that in the case of James VI.
there was knowledge of his ancestor's poetic achievement.

The implications of the argument from silence are these : —
" i. That Dunbar, a contemporary of Major, was ignorant of the

AUTHENTICITY OF THE QUAIR li

tradition that led Major to write as he did. 2. That Dunbar had
never seen the Scotichronicon, nor Major, nor Boece, nor Bellenden ;
and not only that James VI. had never seen the Scotichronicon,
Major, Boece, Bellenden, and in addition Lesley, but that he was
likewise ignorant of the work of his own tutor, George Buchanan."
James VI. did know that James I. was a poet : the Bishop of
Winchester mentions him among royal authors in his preface to
the works of James VI.21 Some of the autobiographical detail as
to the date of sailing for France and the weather is to be regarded
as mere poetic embellishment, and the supposed prophecy after the
event is but "the extravagance of a lover." Mr. Rait concurs
with M. Jusserand in contesting the position that James could not
have written such Scots as is to be found in the poem. He asserts
that as " quhilkis " occurs but once, and as the preterite and pre
terite participle are frequently, but not always, in yt and /V, and as
" ane " occurs only once before a normal consonant (stanza clx.)
while it is frequent in Henryson in this position, the language of
the Quair is strictly the language of a period of transition between
the language of Wyntoun and that of the later fifteenth century
poets. It is transitional also in the use of " do " as emphatic. In
the Quair and The Court of Love both poets have borrowed from
Lydgate's Temple of Glas ; indeed in Professor Skeat's opinion, the
poet of The Court of Love probably borrowed from the Quair.
The author of the Quair in forms of words like " cowardye " and
"percing," and in his use of the final e is- far nearer Chaucer than
is the poet of The Court of 'Love ', as he is likewise in the absence of
overflow from one stanza to another. This last trait is markedly
Chaucerian, and that it is not found in The Court of Love is a
tolerably convincing proof that it is the later poem of the two.

Dr. A. H. Millar's argument turns upon the ownership of the
MS. David Laing (Bannatyne Misce//., vol. ii., p. 162) had inferred
from a coat-of-arms on folio 1 1 8 that the book had at one time
belonged "to some branch of the Sinclairs, Earls of Caithness."
Dr. Millar proves that the arms, part of the illumination of the
MS., were borne by Henry, Lord Sinclair, in 1488. He agrees
with Dr. George Neilson in believing that the MS. was written,
or at least illuminated, by James Graye,* vicar of Hailes, and as

* See Appendix C. — Scribes of the Kingis $uair and of the Square of
Jelusy.

lii THE KINGIS QUAIR

Lord Sinclair was married to Margaret Hepburn, daughter of Adam,
second Lord Hailes, the scribe had a certain personal relation to his
patron. Lord Sinclair was of near kin to the Scottish royal family.
His grandmother was a sister of James I. and his aunt was the wife
of a brother of James III. To the Sinclairs the poem was a
"precious literary heirloom," and they were not likely to be
imposed upon by a poem forged fifty years after the death of
James I. Dr. Millar, accordingly, gives this account of the trans
cription of the Kingls Quair. Lord Sinclair desired to have a copy
of the poem of his granduncle, the original of which was in the
possession of the King. He arranged that the copy should be
made by Graye, " an old acquaintance of Lady Sinclair," and then
secretary to the Archbishop of St. Andrews, who was no less a
personage than the Duke of Ross, brother of James IV. Graye
had beside him a volume with a number of poems by Chaucer and
other poets, and with blank leaves. On these he transcribed the
Kingls Quair and decorated the book with the arms of his patron.

If regard is had merely to Mr. Brown's pleas and the answers
made to them it can scarcely be disputed that he has in the main
the worst of the argument. Certainly he has not proved his case.
His critics have made much of theirs, although in M. Jusserand's
contention there are some slips. It is highly probable, for example,
that Major's At Beltayn is Peblis to the P/ay, and, although it may
be wild conjecture, it is possible that the unintelligible Tas Sen is a
Parisian printer's bungling abbreviation of " Wes nevir in Scotland
hard nor sene" the opening line of Christis Kirk on the Grene.
Buchanan's statement cannot refer to the Quair, which certainly
has a sound moral substance as well as finished poetic form. It
probably refers to the other poems traditionally ascribed to James I.
In several respects defenders of the royal authorship might have made
more of their argument. The King's letters,22 for example, shew
now familiar he was with the northern tongue when he composed
or dictated, or even understood such drafts as the several sections
of the Register House document seem to be. The Croydon letter
is emphatically Scottish.

If we consider the external evidence, as M. Jusserand, Mr. Rait,
and Dr. Millar state it, it is undeniable that testimony very much
weaker has been held sufficient to vouch for the authorship of

AUTHENTICITY OF THE QUAIR liii

scores of ancient and medieval poems. Dr. Millar's statement,
clear and strong as it is, involves certain assumptions, and in
speaking of "a forged poem" he overlooks the frequent use of
autobiography as a literary device. From the Epistles of Ovid to
Robinson Crusoe and Rabbi Ben Ezra the method is common, and
no one is deceived by art of the kind except a prosaic person like
a scribe. There is no proof whatever that the MS. of the Kingis
Quair was in the possession of James IV. The coat of arms on
folio 118 is at the close of Troilusy not among the Scottish poems.
Henry, Lord Sinclair, a lover of poetry, might be interested in a
poem about his royal kinsman as well as in one by him. That he
ever saw the colophon is by no means certain. The value of the
colophon depends entirely upon the second scribe's authority. If
he had his patron's sanction his testimony could scarcely be in
validated, for this copy was almost certainly made from an original
poem written in a difficult hand, as was the original of Lancelot
of the Laik. Internal evidence is difficult to estimate, for inter
pretations of literary features are apt to be subjective. Indeed a
certain personal element in criticism is almost inevitable in the
study of such a poem. Few are the loyal Scots who would not
gladly believe that King James I., one of the most brilliant and
capable sovereigns of a gifted but hapless line, did write the artistic
little book about Queen Joan as well as all the other poems with
which he has been credited. Apart from new positive external
evidence the question cannot be absolutely determined. Yet the
authenticity is very doubtful, and there are reasons of weight
which Mr. Brown has overlooked, while he has scarcely pressed
sufficiently his most important plea. This his critics have not
sought to answer, because they regard the fact upon which it is
based as part of the ornament of the poem. This fact is the poet's
manifest ignoring of any prison but one. Now this feature is only
one of a group of singular omissions which give a special character
to the poem as in substance a passage of autobiography. But
before discussion of these negative characteristics certain features
of the MS. demand attention.

The title and the colophon yield something more than has been
taken out of them. King James is in the title called First, and in
the colophon Primus. He must, therefore, have been dead before

liv THE KINGIS QUAIR

any such addition could have been made to his name. The title,
besides, makes three statements. The Quair was " callit the kingis
quair " ; it was composed by the King ; it was " maid quhen his
Maiestie wes in England." With reference to the title M. Jus-
serand has fallen into one error, slight, indeed, but of some con
sequence. The title is not in the handwriting of the first scribe
of the poem. It is not in the handwriting of any of the scribes of
the MS. volume, and all experts are agreed that it is later in date.
The authority of the testimony is therefore sensibly diminished,
and the entry itself is a palpable imitation of the statement on
folio 225 recto of the Quare of Jelusy "Here efter followis the
trety in the reprefe of lelousye." That the poem was " callit the
kingis quair " is known only from this entry. No later writer,
from Major onward, so refers to it until Tytler gave the little
book to the world by its long forgotten name. The statement
that the king wrote the poem in England is also noteworthy, as
bearing upon the value of the scribe's testimony. The King was
a captive in England almost exactly eighteen years, and the poet
knows this and mentions it in stanza xxv. 6 :

Nere by the space of seris twies nyne.

His captivity is therefore at an end when he writes. Nor is this
all. The poem implies a considerable period of freedom and good
fortune after the time of seclusion.

Among thir thoughtis rolling to and fro
Fell me to mynd of my fortune and vre ;
In tender ^outh how sche was first my fo,
And eft my frende, and how I gat recure
Off my distresse, and all myn auenture
I gan oure-hayle.

The captive's liberation, or " larges " is thus not recent. There
is a backward look to the time when he was received into favour.
This was actually determined when the Scottish Commissioners
made the proposal of marriage in September, 1423. Queen Joan's
care of her husband began on S. Valentine's Eve, 1424. The
concluding portion of the poem gives the same impression as the
opening. In stanza clxxxvii. we have a hint of it.

And thus this flouris I can seye no more,

So hertly has vnto my help attendit,

That from the deth hir man sche has defendit.

AUTHENTICITY OF THE QUAIR lv

Even more emphatic is stanza cxcii. 5-7 :

And syne throu long and trew contynuance
Of veray faith In Lufe and trew seruice,
I cumin am, and forthir in this wise.

Stanza cxciii. implies a backward glance of years, for the King's
marriage is alluded to as something which has long been a part of
experience :

Vmvorthy, lo, hot onely of hir grace,

In lufis }ok, that esy is and sure,
In guerdoun fair of all my lufis space,

Sche hath me tak, hir humble creature.

And thus befell my blisfull auenture,
In jouth of lufe, that now, from day to day,
Flourith ay newe, and 3 it forthir, I say.

One slight touch in stanza cli. 3 may be a scribal error, on the
other hand it may be a lapse from assumed autobiography : " ' I
sail, Madame,' quod he."

The last stanza of the poem is very strange if it were written
by James I. in England in 1423 or 1424. The poet calls Gower
and Chaucer his " maisteris dere." Yet practically he owes not
very much to Gower, and great as is his debt to Chaucer it is not
more than to Lydgate who was alive for many years after 1424.
Lydgate's Temple of Glas is one of the main sources of the Quair.
A poet prince who read Lydgate in prison, and who could not be
ignorant of the fact that Lydgate was alive, could, in such a con
nection, hardly ignore him, when he was commending others as
his poetic teachers. A later poet might readily be silent because
there was frequent confounding of the work of Chaucer and Lyd
gate. The Complaint of the Black Knight is one of the poems in
the same MS. as the Quair, and the colophon runs " Here endith
the maying and disporte of Chaucer."23 If it could be shown that
the poet knew and used lines and phrases from Lydgate's " The
Tragedies gathered by John Bochas" then he could not possibly
have written the Quair in 1424. For Lydgate's translation of
Boccaccio's De Casibus was probably made for Humphrey, Duke
of Gloucester, at some time between 1430 and I438.24 But proof
of this kind is not available. Coincidences are but of phrase or little
more. Our poet is even more manifestly a scholar of Lydgate
than of Chaucer, and one of the difficulties in dealing with the

Ivi THE KINGIS QUAIR

text, in so far as it demands metrical amendment, is due to this
fact. Musical as the verse often is, it is unequal, and some of its
inequality and occasional harshness may spring from this following
of Lydgate rather than Chaucer.

A closer examination of the substance, both in its negative and
positive aspects, will shew how difficult it is to reconcile it with
the history and experience of the young King of Scotland. The
life of James, from his childhood onwards, had many moving inci
dents, and it had a picturesque setting at successive points. The
writer of the poem is a poet of genuine power with an eye for the
outward world as well as a retentive memory stored with thoughts
and phrases from older poets. Yet he has used in a concrete
fashion very little of the prince's experience. The treatment of
the embarkation, capture, and imprisonment, is meagre, and often
blurred and indistinct in outline. The absence of the poet's name
and rank may be explicable on the ground of reticence. But the
bare generalities in the narrative of his seizure at sea, and of his
confinement in England, and the absence of all reference to the
tracts of time when he was not a close prisoner at all but a guest
at the Court of the King of England or in the train of the Queen,
the complete omission of allusion to military service, the lack
of any illustration or reflection from it, all these features make us
hesitate to assign the poem to a young man with a keen interest
in war. Nor do we find any indication of his familiarity with a
Court. His interviews with Venus and Minerva are uncoloured
by this, and throughout the poem there is little or nothing to
suggest that the writer is a young king who has moved among
royal personages and who has kingly instincts. One line (stanza
Ixxxv. 3) emphasises still more strongly this remarkable lack of
princely feeling and interest :

Here bene the princis, faucht the grete batailis.25

The personal element is at its best in the picture of the maiden
as she is seen from the captive's keep. Yet the evident modelling
of this portion upon The Knight's Tale, and the minuteness and
elaboration in the description of the beloved's dress and jewellery
suggest a heart-whole conscious artist rather than an ardent lover
on the eve of his marriage. The kind of lover's humility which

AUTHENTICITY OF THE QUAIR Ivii

appears in the language of the poet, now in his own person and
again in the person of Venus, is conventional and inappropriate,
and is scarcely reconcilable with the spirit of any royal Stuart in
Scottish history.

If on some of these points we compare with the Quair the
poems of Charles d'Orle"ans, so long the fellow prisoner of James
in England, we find that Charles discloses himself quite frankly.
In his Poeme de la Prison he says :

Lors Jeunesse si hucha le portier,
Et lui a dit : J'ay cy un estrangier,
Avecques moy entrer nous fault l£ans ;
On 1'appelle Charles, due d'Orl&ns.26

In the same poem he has other references to his personality and
to his rank.27 Charles alludes to individual persons, and places,
and situations, and thus compels recognition of himself as a royal
personage. He hates England. He desires peace. He longs to
return to France.28 Only the language of the Quair reveals that
the writer is a native of Scotland. Not a phrase or sentiment
recalls the land or associations of his birth. If we except
stanza cxxi., which is general in character, there is but one
reference to any amusement in the Quair. It is to Chess in
clxviii., and this is followed up in clxix. In the poem of Charles
are many allusions to this game,29 to tennis30 and to fencing31
and to heraldry.32 His poems, looked at as a whole, in spirit,
colouring, mood, and illustrative material betray a courtly writer.
Not one reader of the Kingis Quair in a hundred, apart from
external testimony, would suppose that a high-spirited prince was
the author.

The positive indications of a writer of a different rank are
numerous and striking. Throughout, save in the love passages,
the poem is didactic in tone. We hear the voice of a preacher,
not of a prince. Emphatically didactic are the proem, especially
in stanzas i.-ix., the self-questioning in xi. and xii., and the
invocation in stanzas xiv. and xv. The larger .portion of the
vision, borrowed from The Temple of Glas — stanzas Ixxiv-clvii. —
is in the same vein, while the speech of Venus — cv.-cx. — is only
surpassed in this respect by Minerva — cxxix.-cxxxviii. — where the
sound moral teaching surprises not so much by its excellence as

Iviii

THE KINGIS QUAIR

by its utter inappropriateness to the mood of a brave prince on the
eve of his marriage. It is entirely appropriate to a poet preacher
desirous of making an impression upon free-living Scottish
courtiers. The quotation from Ecclesiastes seems to be due to
first-hand knowledge of Scripture rather than to recollection of
Chaucer. The brief theological disquisition — cxlvi.-cxlix. — if it
stood alone, reminiscent as it is of Chaucer's reflections in Troilus
and Criseyde and the Nonne Prestes Tale^ would not of itself count
for much ; but, as it falls in with other matter in the same spirit,
it points to a teacher of some kind as the poet. Other passages
indicate familiarity with Scriptural events and teaching. The
great light and the voice in stanza Ixxiv. recall the conversion of
S. Paul. The reference to Him " that corner-stone and ground
is of the wall " — cxxx. — is Scriptural, as is the counsel "groundith
thy werk, therefore, upon the stone" (cxxxi.), and Scriptural, too,
is the conception of " wolfis hertis in lambis likenesse " (cxxxvi. 3).
Equally significant is the contrast between the spirit and the flesh
in clxxiii. when the flesh troubles the spirit waking and sleeping.
Of less consequence, but still pointing to the same conclusion, are
such indications as we find in the use of the phrase "vnsekir
warldis appetitis " (cvi. 5), in the very frequent use of the word
"penance," in the ringing of the bell to "matyns" (xi. 3), in
making the sign of the Cross (xiii. 7), and in the thrice-repeated
reference to benefit of the soul.33

The work is that of a poet thinking of readers, rather than of
a king eager to please his bride, as is evident from the closing
stanzas. The reader is entreated to have patience with the
defects of the little treatise (cxciv). The writer has doubts about
the reception of his work when it comes to "the presence"
(cxcv.). A lover's humility will lead to many strange words and
deeds, but a king's lovemaking is little likely to lead to the kind
of humbleness which appears in stanzas cxciv., cxcv. The two
closing strophes return to the didactic mood, which prevails so
strongly throughout.

As the language is deliberately artificial, and is thus a Lowland
Scots contaminated with English Midland forms and other variants,
no solid argument for or against James's authorship can be based
upon it. Such a product for purposes of expression was equally

AUTHENTICITY OF THE QUAIR lix

possible to King James and to a later writer. The poem implies
that it is the work of a successful lover and happy husband who
can be none other than King James I. of Scotland. The book of
Ecclesiastes implies that it is the work of King Solomon ; and
Eikon Basilike appeals to the world as a series of meditations of
Charles I. That Solomon was not the author of Ecclesiastes is as
certain as anything in history can be. That Charles I. wrote
Eikon Basilike is highly improbable, and that James I. wrote the
Kingis Quair is very doubtful. Imagination performs strange feats.
In reasoning, therefore, from features of a work of imagination it
is easy to accept as fact what is designed only to be fancy, and
to look for something which is not there because the writer's
individuality led him to ignore it. Nevertheless, with every allow
ance for this, the verdict must be given, hesitatingly perhaps, yet
given against tradition.

So much old poetry has perished, and so many poets on Dunbar's
Scottish roll of fame have left no work which can now be re
covered, that it may seem idle to speculate as to a probable author.
Nevertheless there are poetic affinities which cannot be ignored,
and they point to a possible poet who has left work which can
be compared both in matter and form with the poem ascribed to
King James. Examination of this will come more appropriately
in connection with a discussion of the relation of the Kingis Quair
to earlier and later poetry. In any event the writer must have
been a friend of the royal house and a prudent friend who wished
to say nothing against England. For there is an entire absence of
Wyntoun's national spirit :

It is of Inglis natioune
The common kend conditioune
Off Trevvis the wertew to fo^ett,
Quhen thai will them for wynning set j
And rekles of gud faith to be,
Quhare thai can thair axiantage se j
Thare may na bond be made sa ferm
Than thai can mak thare will thare term.

The Quair in its autobiographical aspect may be compared with
the far inferior lament for the death of the Dauphiness, Princess
Margaret, which is entitled Lamentatio Domini Dalphini Franciae
pro Morte Uxoris suae, dictae Margaretae. So greatly daring are
poets.

Ix

THE KINGIS QUAIR

III

THE QUAIR AND EARLIER AND LATER POETRY

IN the last stanza of his work the poet of the Quair recommends
his book to the scions or "ympis1 of his maisteris dere" Gower
and Chaucer, who, as supremely excellent poets adorned with the
laurel crown, sat on the steps of eloquence. It is natural, therefore,
to ask what is his debt to these poets and what to others. Certainly
he owns no Scottish master, although it is possible that the writer,
if he were other than King James, found a hint for the biography
in Wyntoun,2 as Mr. Brown supposes.3 It will be necessary also
to inquire if the poem has any Scottish affinities, and if it has in
any way influenced later Scottish poetry.

The debt to Gower, as Dr. Skeat has pointed out,4 is to be
found in spirit and tone rather than in substance or in diction, for
the Quair is certainly after the manner of Gower in its prevailing
didactic strain and its frequent moralising. Yet Gower's Confessio
Amantls did supply some details. The most notable single passage
parallel to the thought of the Quair is to be found in the Prologue
(560-571):

For every worldes thing is vein

And evere goth the whiel aboute

And evere stant a man in doute,

Fortune stant no while stille

So hath ther no man al his wille.

Als fer as evere a man may knowe

Ther lasteth nothing but a throwe ;

The world stant evere upon debat,

So may be seker non astat

Now hier now ther, now to now fro,

Now up now doun this world goth so

And evere hath don and evere schal.6

As the story of Progne, Philomela, and Tereus is in the Legend
of Good Women and in the Temple of Glas as well as in Book V.
555~59I °f tne Confessio Amantls^ no argument can be based on
this. The use of " strang "c in the sense of " hard to bear " has a
parallel in Book V. 7377-8 :

Strong thing it is to soffre wrong
And suffre schame is more strong.

EARLIER AND LATER POETRY Ixi

In marked contrast to this slight borrowing from Gower are the
volume and variety of the debt to Chaucer. The Scottish poet is
steeped in Chaucer.7 He has, indeed, none of Chaucer's mirth,
but he has, in some portions of his work, a little of Chaucer's cheer
fulness, as in the stanzas which describe the birds before and
immediately after he sees his mistress,8 and when the dove comes
with the message and the flowers in her bill.9 He has little of
Chaucer's narrative skill, but he has much of Chaucer's love of
nature and joy in gracious womanhood. He shews with the
substance of Chaucer's poetry and with the ipsisslma verba a
familiarity which could only have come from long and loving
study. The details of this familiarity are given in the Notes, but
the significance of the borrowings can only be apprehended by
grouping them and looking at them as a whole.

The Deth of Blaunche the Duchesse gave the hint for the poet's
sleeplessness and for his use of a book to beguile the tedium of
the weary hours. Chaucer read in Ovid10 the tale of Ceyx and
Alcyone as our poet reads Boethius' De Consolatione Philosophiae.
(If the later poet had read Boethius with more care he would
have avoided the blunder about Tantalus in stanza Ixx.) Both
poets eventually fall asleep and dream, but the later poet makes a
characteristic variation. He does not, like Chaucer, fall asleep
over his book. The book rouses him, he is deeply interested and
begins to write his poetic autobiography as soon as he has left his
couch at the matin bell. He falls asleep from grief and weariness
after his mistress has left the garden. From the Book of the Duchess
comes also the illustration of the game of chess in stanzas clxviii.
and clxix., but the Quair at this point is tame indeed beside
the moving passage which gave the hint. In Chaucer, Fortune
is the lover's opponent, not a goddess called upon to help the
player.

Atte ches with me she gan to pleye :

With hit false draughtes dyvers

She stal on me, and took my fers ;

And whan I saw my fers aweye,

Alias ! I couthe no lenger pleye,

But seyde, ' Far-wel, swete, y-wys !

And far-wel al that ever ther is !'

Ther-with Fortune seyde, « Chek heer !'

And * Mate !' in the myd poynt of the chekkere,

Ixii THE KINGIS QUAIR

With a poune erraunt, alias !
Ful craftier to pley she was
Than Athalus that made the game
First of the ches, so was his name.11

Here the poet found reference to Tantalus : " I have more sorwe
than Tantale."12 The Parlement of Foules is also a dream induced
by reading Cicero's Somnium Scipionis. Parallel thoughts, if not
borrowings, are to be found in the description of the little fishes
with red fins and bright scales, swimming in the river, and in the
welcome to summer :

Now welcom, somer, with thy sunne softe,
That hast this wintres weders overshake
And driven awey the longe nightes blake.13

The Hous of Fame, which is also a dream, probably suggested
the ascent of the poet to the heavenly regions, but the only detail
which has passed to the later poem is that of the palace with
crystal stones.14 A few verbal similarities with the Legend of Good
Women may be noted, but they are so few and so slight that the
poet may not have read the Legend at all. Very different is it
with Troilus and Criseyde. From this poem come portions of the
imagery, not a few lines and phrases, and something of the poetic
manner of the Quair. From Troilus are taken hints for the pre
sentation of the goddess Fortune,15 part of the reasoning on Free
Will and Predestination,16 and the image of a rudderless boat17
and of a boat among tempestuous waves,18 as well as the concep
tion of a ruby shaped like a heart.19 The most curious borrowing
of all is of Tisiphone as a Muse. Chaucer, with a delightful and
arbitrary humour, had departed from the opening of his original,
// Filostrato of Boccaccio. The Italian poet had invoked his
mistress Fiammetta and not Jove or Apollo or the Muses, but
Chaucer called upon a Fury instead.20 Examples of verbal bor
rowings are to be found in " lovis, daunce," 21 " my honour sauf,"2^
and in the line " Bewailing in his chambre thus allone."23

Of the Canterbury Tales the Knight's Tale gives the largest
contribution. For the poet of the Quair has fashioned his picture
of the prisoner's condition, his experience on the sight of his
mistress walking in a garden, his language and state of mind, upon
what the older poet has given in his story of Palamon and Arcite.24

EARLIER AND LATER POETRY Ixiii

The tale of Constance supplies a hint for the record in the stars of
every man's destiny :

For in the sterres, clerer than is glas,

Is written, God woot, whoso koude it rede,

The deth of every man withouten drede.25

Here and elsewhere, especially in the Monk's Taley he found
matter for his conception of Fortune and her wheel.26 Many
slight touches there are from other Canterbury Tales. " The
wyly Fox the wedows Inemye" recalls the Nun Priest's Tale.27
" A twenty deuill way " is found many times in Chaucer.28 In
the Monk's Tale he found " Fortune was first friend and sitthe
foo"29; and there too, in the description of Seneca, " For of
moralitee he was the flour," he had at least a suggestion for his
portrait of Boethius.30

The Quair is wholly written in the Troilus stanza, and even
when brief lyrics are introduced as in the bird's song (xxxiv.), the
prayer to Venus (lii.)> the petition to Venus (xcix.-ciii.), and
the poetic message brought by the dove, which does not occupy
the whole of stanza clxxix., there is no metrical variety. Look
ing ta the nature of his subject the poet was content to use the
measure in which had been told the tale of love unfortunate to
tell a story of love triumphant. It had been employed for the
s^ory of Grisildis and the story of Constance, as well as for the
Tale of the Prioress and the Parlement of Foules. It had also
been used frequently by Lydgate and his fellow English
Chaucerians.

In poetic manner nothing is more marked in the Quair than
. the frequent use of interrogation. Many stanzas are more or
less made up of a rapid series of questions. This is a feature
of Troilus*1 as well as of other portions of Chaucer's work.
Throughout, the disciple in this mannerism goes far beyond his
master, although here, too, he follows him in the use of inter
jected phrases to complete the verse. Such padding is even more
frequent in the verse of the master to whom the poet of the Quair
does not allude. Considerable as the debt to Chaucer is, there is
an equal debt to Lydgate. The nature and extent of this were
first pointed out by Professor Schick in 1891, when he published

Ixiv THE KINGIS QUAIR

the Temple of Glas for the E.E.T.S.32 It is manifest in many
portions of the substance of the Qualr and in many slight details
both of illustration and expression. Happily or unhappily it is a
case of a better poet borrowing from an inferior, and in some
points the later poet has improved upon his original. The open
ing of the Qualr, for example, far more closely resembles Lydgate's
poem than any of the poems of Chaucer already mentioned. No
one can dispute the superiority of the disciple's work.

For thou3t, constraint, and greuous heuines,
For pensifhede, and for heij distres,
To bed I went nov J>is oj>ir nyjt,
Whan }?at Lucina wij? hir pale li}t
Was loyned last wi}> Phebus in aquarie,
Amyd decembre, when of lanuarie
Ther be kalendes of J?e nwe yere,
And derk Diane, ihorned, noting clere,
Had (hid) hir bemys vndir a mysty cloude :
Wijnn my bed for sore I gan me shroud e,
Al desolate for constreint of my wo,
The long(e) ny$t waloing to and fro,
Til at(te) last, er I gan taken kepe,
Me did oppresse a sodein dedeli slepe,
WiJ) — in J?e which me J?ou3t(e) }?at I was
Rauysshid in spirit in (a) temple of glas.33

The main borrowings are to be found in the poet's experience
in the heavenly regions, in what he sees in the palaces of Venus
and Minerva, and in the speeches of the king and of the goddesses.
The classification of the lovers, their petitions, and the condemna
tion of those who shut up the young in convents against their
will, all come from Lydgate.34 The description of the lady is
partly modelled upon Lydgate (11. 743-763), and the confusion
which enrolled Tisiphone among the Muses is probably as much
due to the Temple of Glas as to Troilus and Criseyde ;

I can no fer]>er but to Thesiphone

And to hir sustren forto help(e) me

That bene goddesses of turment and of peyne.35

In the Quair the lover has his supreme joy when a white turtle
dove brings him a branch of gillyflower ; in the Temple of Glas
Venus throws into the lady's lap a " branch of hawthorne white
and green."36 Slighter resemblances are to be found in " sonnyssh

EARLIER AND LATER POETRY Ixv

here briber than gold were,"87 in reference to Cupid's arrow of
gold,38 to the bird and the net,39 and to ink and paper.40 Many
other minor expressions there are, and as a matter of course there
is the same kind of address to the " litel rude boke " at the close,
when it is sent to " her presence " for whose sake it has been
composed.41

The debt to Lydgate extends to other poems than the Temple
of Glas. Verbal correspondences with The Complaint of the Black
Knight are numerous, but they are for the most part so trifling in
character that they cannot necessarily be said to be borrowings.
They may simply be coincidences. The Quare of Jelusy*2 shews
close resemblances, and is without doubt indebted to the Complaint.
On the other hand, The Flour of Curtesye probably supplied some
thoughts to the Kingis Quair.

And whyl that I, in my drery payne,

Sat, and beheld aboute on every tree

The foules sitten, alway twayne and twayne,

Than thoughte I thus : ' alas ! what may this be,

That every foul has his libertee

Frely to chesen after his desyre

Everich his make thus, fro yeer to yere ?43

A faint resemblance is also to be found in 11. 260-264 to tne
Kingis Quair, stanza cxliii.

Professor Schick thinks that there are resemblances to Lyd-
gate's Reson and Sensuallyte. He does not specify any, writing
from memory. Juno, like Fortune, wears a surcote,44 and Venus

has no crown

Of gold nor stonys on hir hede,
But she had of roses rede
Instede thereof a chapelet.46

But these trifling resemblances on points so commonplace weigh
little on the side of knowledge of this poem by the author of the
Quair, when one recalls how widely he diverges from Lydgate on
the subject of Cupid's bows and arrows. For in the Quair Cupid
has one bow and three arrows, headed with gold, silver, and steel.
In Reson and Sensuallyte the god has two bows and ten arrows,
five with heads of gold, and five with heads black, and foul, and
poison-tipped ; and from the elaborately described game of chess
the Quair has not borrowed the faintest touch.

The same is true of the Falls of Princes. Now and again there

5

Ixvi THE KINGIS QUAIR

is coincidence of phrase, but as there is no trace of influence,
where influence might well be looked for — for example in the
wealth of the biographical content of the Falls, in the Prologue
to Book Sixth which treats at length of Fortune, and in the
Prologue to Book Seventh which celebrates Fraunceys Petrarch
" the laureate poete crowned with laurer " — it seems scarcely dis
putable that the Falls was unknown to the writer of the Quair.

A much more important problem arises in connection with two
fifteenth-century Scottish poems — Lancelot of the Laik and the
Quare of Jelusy. Lancelot of the Laik is a Scots translation of
a portion of a French romance. It is a fragment. There is a
prologue of 334 lines, and there are two Books with a portion
of a third, the whole poem extending to 3486 lines, that is a little
more than two and a half times the length of the Kingis Quair.
The Prologue is entirely the work of the author, and according
to Dr. Skeat, who edited the poem more than forty-five years ago
for the Early English Text Society, the poet is a very free trans
lator, adapting and adding frequently. There is but one MS. It
is in Cambridge University Library, and no author has hitherto
been named. Besides Dr. Skeat's there is an edition among the
Maitland Club publications.

Points of resemblance in artificiality of language in the Kingis
Quair, Lancelot of the Laik and the Quare of Jelusy have
long been noted by students of philology. The significance of
these resemblances would have been more manifest if the scribe
of the Lancelot MS. had not adopted an eccentric system of
spelling, writing the same word in even more than the usual
variety of forms. Whatever be the explanation, there is a closer
affinity than a common artificiality of language.

Lancelot of the Laik shews distinct traces of the influence of
Chaucer, and it is specially indebted to the Knight's Tale. In
line 309 Venus is mentioned as " siting hie abuf," just as in the
Squire'' s Tale (272-3) we read :

Now dauncen lusty Venus children deere
For in the Fyssh hir lady sat ful hye.

In 381-2 the rendering recalls the Nun's Priest's Tale (C.T.B.,

4111-12) :

To dremys, Sir, shuld no man have Respeck,
For thai ben thingis weyn, of non affek .

EARLIER AND LATER POETRY Ixvi.

Line 545, " as tho it was the gyse ", is reminiscent of * To
doon obsequies as was tho the gyse" (K. T., 135). In descriptions
of fighting there is frequent likeness to the tournament in the
Knight's Tale: the sounding of trumpets (1. 771), the cleaving of
helmets (868), the using of spurs, u In goith the spuris in the
stedis syde " (1084) ; and the resemblance is not merely in lan
guage but in spirit.

Longer passages recalling the famous conflict of Palamon and
Arcite and their knights are lines 2579-2602, 2960-74, 3291-3300.
The last passage will suffice to shew the energy of the poet and
how he can answer to the most buoyant mood of his master :

With all his forss the nerest feld he soght ;

His ful strenth in (to) armys thar he vroght,

Into the feld rusching to and fro,

Doune goith the man, doune goith the horse also ;

Sum throw the scheld is persit to the hart,

Sum throw the hed, he may it not astart.

His bludy suerd he dreuch, that carwit so

Fro sum the hed, and sum the arm in two,

Sum in the feld (y)fellit is in swon

Thro sum his suerd goith to the sadill doun.

The debt to Chaucer in substance, as might be expected in a
translation, is not extensive. There are, however, a number of
points of likeness in poetic manner. The opening of Book II.
recalls the opening of Part II. of the Squire's Tale, while the
occasional references to daybreak (675 and 2579-80) —

The nycht is gone, vp goith the morow gray
The brychte sone so cherith al the day —

are in the spirit of the well-known couplet :

The busy larke messager of day
Salueth in hir song the morwe gray.

Points of contact with the Klngis Quair are numerous both on
the material and the formal side. Substance, style, versification,
rhyme, and diction have not a little in common. Comparison of
the versification is difficult, as the Lancelot is written in heroic
couplet, all except one short lyric, which is in the measure of the
Envoy to The Compleynt of Chaucer to his Purse.

Ixviii THE KINGIS QUAIR

The description of a garden (53-56) recalls K. Q. xxxi.-xxxii. :

And al enweronyt and I-closit
One sich o wyss that none within supposit
Fore to be sen with ony vicht thareout
So dide the levis close it all about.

There is a long dialogue with a bird (83-156) entirely in the
mood of the address to the nightingale in the Kingis Quair
(clvii.-ix.). The lyric already referred to (699-718) has similarities
of expression as well as something of the spirit of the Quair :

Qwhat haue y gilt;46 allace ! or qwhat deseruit ?
That thus myne hart shal vondit ben and carwit

One by the suord of double peine and wo ?

My comfort and my plesans47 is ago,
To me is nat that shuld me glaid reseruit.

I curse the tyme of myne Natiuitee,

Whar in the heuin It ordinyd was for me,*8

In all my lyue neuer til haue eese j

But for to be example of disese,
And that apperith that euery vicht may see.

Sen thelke tyme that I had sufficians49

Of age, and chargit thoghtis sufferans,
Nor neuer I continewite haith o day
Without the payne of thoghtis hard assay ;

Thus goith my youth in tempest and penans.

And now my body is in presone broght ;
But of my wo, that in Regard is noght,

The wich myne hart felith euer more.

O deth, allace ! whi hath yow me forbore
That of remed haith the so long besoght ?

In line 1016 Lancelot, like the hero of the Quair (Ixiii.), begins
an apostrophe to his heart. There is a description of Gawane
(2755-8) which in matter and manner at once reminds a reader of
K. Q. stanza 1. :

In hyme was manhed, curtessy, and trouth,
Besy travell In knighthed, ay but sleuth,
Humilyte, gentrice, and [hye] cwrag ;
In hyme thar was no marier of outrage.

The Black Knight's soliloquy on love (3277-80) is but a chivalrous
summary of Venus' admonition to the lover in stanza cix. :

And well yhow wot that on to her presens
Til her estat nor til hir excellens
Thi febilness neuermore is able
For to attan sche is so honorable.

EARLIER AND LATER POETRY Ixix

The poet of Lancelot has two styles ; one, apparent in the
Prologue, is long-winded and tedious, as if the writer could not
finish a sentence and had become a meandering bore. The other
is vigorous, fairly compact, and spirited. It appears throughout
the greater part of the translation. The French original has
imposed a limit and compelled a certain degree of precision. The
poet of the Kingis Quair has the same characteristic. He has two
styles. But the prolix manner is rare because the Troilus stanza
does not lend itself to it. Yet it does appear in stanzas ii.-iv.,
xxxii.-iv., cliii.-v., and clvi.-ix.

Here as in the Kingis Quair there is a fondness for interrogation
and occasionally a predilection for a succession of clauses beginning
with "sum," "sum," " sum," as at 2550-53 :

Sum for wyning, sum causith was for luf,
Sum causit was of wordis he and hate.

The same kind of succession of clauses is to be found in the
Kingis Quair (Ixxxvi.-vii.), in the Quare of Jelusy (446-9), and
in other passages of both poems.

Little similarities of phrase are numerous. In both poems the
use of " quhy " as a noun is very common, and " furth " occurs
with great frequency, also the elsewhere uncommon words
"dedeyne" for "deign" (K. Q. clxviii. 3, 11. 240 and 949),
"hufing," "waiting" (K. Q. clix. 4, 1. 1046), and " cowardye "
(K. Q. Ixxxix. 4, 11. 1023, 3278). Both poets refer to Ovid
by name (K. Q. Ixxxv. 7, 1. 107) ; both use the phrase "from
the deth " (K. Q. clxxxvii. 7, 1. 2959) ; while the poet mentioned
at the close of the Prologue50 is called, like Boethius, "a com-
pilour,"61 and he is praised like him for "the fresch enditing of
his laiting toung."62

There is likeness also in certain aspects of the versification ;
there is the same frequent overflow of meaning from line to line,
and there is in Lancelot comparatively frequent rhyming of a word
with itself, if we reckon among these rhymes words like accorde
and recorde, dewyss wyssy awyss wyss, demande commande, forme
reforme. Where there is absolutely identical rhyme as in poynt
poynt (797-8, 3467-8), hard hard (1653-4), ^ow yw (1371-2), the
poet does not follow Chaucer's example of selecting words similar
in sound but different in meaning like see (sea) see (to see), hye

Ixx THE KINGIS QUAIR

(haste) hye (high). This feature appears also in the Qualr in such
rhymes as fall fall, mynd mynd, and other instances referred to
elsewhere. Rhymes with accent on ing and ness are frequent in
all three poems, and they all shew, though rarely, a freedom in
rhyme which Chaucer would have scorned. The Quair (xxxviii.)
rhymes large, charge, and corage ; Lancelot gud and destltude
(95-96) and destitut conclud (193-4, 1177-8). The Quare of
Jelusy has this last peculiarity also (520, 523, 524), and the novel
form " chapture " is coined to rhyme with " pure."

No comment is necessary upon the fact that in the actual texts
of both poems final e needs often to be added, and final en, and
initial y-, that short words are wanting and superfluous words are
added, for this simply means that the scribes were careless and
little appreciative of the music of verse.

There are of course striking differences also, and in certain
portions of Lancelot there are linguistic peculiarities which will be
remarked upon in Section V.

The Quare of Jelusy, also in a unique text, is found in the same
MS. as the Quair, folios 221-228. The colophon Quod Auch led
David Laing, the only editor, to assign it to Auchinleck (in Scot
land pronounced Affleck), and to identify him with the poet
mentioned by Dunbar in his Lament for the Makaris :

That scorpioun fell hes done infek
Maister Johne Clerke and James Afflek
Fra balat making and trigide.

Laing thinks that possibly he is the James Auchlek who graduated
at St. Andrews53 in 1471, and who is marked pauper in the register
— which shows that in graduating he was not asked to pay fees.
Laing also believes that this Auchinleck was, in 1494, Secretary to
the Earl of Ross and Precentor of Caithness, who died in September,

H97-54

Whoever the poet was, who is designated by the abbreviation

Auch, there can be no doubt about his knowledge of the Kingls
Quair and partial dependence upon it. There are many verbal
resemblances which are giyen in detail in the notes, and there is
the same love of interrogation and the same frequent use of padding.
There is also kindred debt to Gower, Chaucer, and Lydgate, in

EARLIER AND LATER POETRY Ixxi

particular to the Temple of Glas. The plan of the later Quare
has been to some extent modelled on that of the earlier. There
is the same grave ethical spirit and the same disposition to exhort.

The second poem treats of Jealousy, its character and conse
quences, as the first does of Love, its nature, course, difficulties and
final triumph. For while the Kingis Quair is based to a certain
extent upon a passage in the life of King James I., it is sub
stantially an allegory and sermon upon the blameworthiness of
mere appetite, and upon the necessity for the cooperation of
passion, wisdom, and good fortune, if marriage is to be happy.
Both poems condemn severely the licentiousness of the age, and
both shew a purity of sentiment and of expression rare in fifteenth-
century Scottish poetry, and unknown in sixteenth-century poetry
until after the Reformation.

In the Quare of Jelusy the poet deals, as he says, with what has
been part of his personal experience. He does not, however, employ
the Dream device, but adopts the equally common adventure upon
a May morning. He awakes ; something comes to his remem
brance ; he can sleep no longer, and he goes forth and walks by
the side of a river which bounds a wood. There he sees a beautiful
lady who curses Jealousy in an agony of despair. The poet is so
much moved that he would fain seek to offer comfort, but the
lady is joined by a companion, and the two ladies go away together.
Pity and anger rouse him to write something in scorn of Jealousy.
He does this with much emphasis but with little power of
imagination or beauty of phrase. He is thus led to the main body
of his work, which he calls "a treatise in reproof of jealousy."
Now the Kingis Quairy which opens in mid-winter, not in early
summer, has a parallel twofold introduction. In the first part the
poet is brought to the point of writing, in the second he gives his
personal experience leading to the dream which gives the substance
of the poem. The second part of the introduction in each poem
opens with an invocation of Youth,65 and both poems in the second
part of their introduction have an invocation of Thesiphone, oddly
enough in different erroneous ways, for while Thesiphone in the
Kingis Quair is a Muse, in the Quare of Jelusy she has changed
sex and is invoked as " Thou lord of wo and care." The con
cluding part of each poem has an address to lovers and an apology

Ixxii THE KINGIS QUAIR

for the poet's want of skill — much more appropriate to the later
poem than to the earlier. In structure, thought, diction and
versification the second Quare is as much inferior to the first as
Jealousy is inferior to Love.

For the substance of his work Auchinleck, if we may call the
poet by his conjectural name, uses material drawn from sources
not used by the writer of the Kingis Quair. He knows something
of Bacchus and Sydrake^ a curious book, known at least by report to
Gavin Douglas, who names the Christian sage in his Palice of

Honour :

Melyssus with his sawis but defence
Sidrake, Secundus, and Solenyus !56

He has read in part either the Legenda Aurea or the Scottish Lives
of the Saints attributed to Barbour, because he mentions the punish
ment of Henry II. (S. Henry), Emperor of Germany, for his jealousy
of his Empress Cunegunda, and tells how he was saved by the
intercession of S. Lawrence.

The later poem has a much more frequent reference to Scrip
ture. The poet has his eye upon Scottish life as it was lived
around him. He has marked the character and conduct of the
more powerful classes, and he illustrates his teaching by direct
reference to a then well-known tragedy in high life, the murder of
a wife by her jealous husband and the suicide of the murderer.

On the formal side this poem links both with the Kingis Quair
and Lancelot of the Laik. The poet endeavours to make up for
his thinner thought and feebler poetic message by greater metrical
variety. In his 607 lines he uses five verse forms. Lines 1-190
are written in five-accent couplet, lines 191-316 in the nine-line
stanza of Chaucer's Compleynt of Faire Anelyda upon Fals Arcyte^
rhyming aab, aab, bab, and lines 317-463 in Troilus stanza.
The nine-line stanza is resumed at 464 and is carried on to line
571 ; lines 572-581 form a ten-line stanza rhyming aab, aab,
b c b c ; and the five-accent couplet is once more employed in the
closing address to lovers, lines 582-607. If, in a poem which is
tedious throughout, the writer can be described as having two
styles, there is a very long-winded style in the five-accent portions,
and a fairly compact style in the stanza sections, especially in the
part in Troilus stanza, where the meaning never overflows as it

EARLIER AND LATER POETRY Ixxiii

does sometimes, though rarely, in the Kingis Quair. Overflow
of meaning from line to line is fairly common, but there is a
severity and a simplicity about this stanza in the Quare of Jelusy
which contrast with the more refined art and greater variety of
the earlier poem. The rhymes, with the exceptions already noted,
are of the usual type, and in both Quairs hert astert seems a
favourite.

Links between Lancelot and the Quare of Jelusy are numerous.
Both poems are indebted to the Knight's Tale and the Squirtt
Tale, and in both there is reference to the Book of Daniel (L. L.
J3^5> Q- J' 35°> 35 0- The opening of the later poem recalls the
opening of Book III. of Lancelot. But nowhere in the Quare is
there any passage fit to be compared with the finer and more
spirited portions of the romance.

The Prologue of Lancelot and the five-accent portions of the
Qua re of Jelusy are most nearly related. All that has already
been said about points of likeness in poetic manner between
Lancelot and the Kingis Quair applies likewise to the Quare of
yelusy. Rhyming correspondences are also threefold, with the
exception of one uncommon rhyme already mentioned. Final
ing and final ness are very common, and the rhyming of a word
with itself occurs a few times in the Quare of yelusy. Similarities
of expression are also found. In addition to those indicated in the
Notes may be mentioned " sobir ayer " (Q. J. 18, L. L. 352),
" abominable was hold " (Q. J. 255, L. L. 1625).

Reserving questions of language, meanwhile, we ask what
conclusion may be drawn as to the relation of the three poems ?
Have we, as tradition has it,- three poets — King James writing
in 1423 or 1424, and two Scottish subjects writing later who
knew his work and used it ? Have we two poets — a poet of the
Kingis Quair, and one poet of two later poems, as Professor Skeat
privately assures me he is able to prove ? There is a third
possible solution — that we have but one poet who partly trans
lated a French romance in his youth, who was much indebted
to Chaucer's Knighfs Tale and was fired by the spirit of it in his
higher moods, who extended his knowledge of English poetry and
wrote the Kingis Quair, and who finally in old age, with failing
power and no inspiration, wrote the Quare of Jelusy. This is but

Ixxiv THE KINGIS QUAIR

a possibility, certainly not proved, perhaps not provable, but such
diversities as are to be found, and they are striking enough, may
be due to the different stages of life at which one poet wrote
rather than to a succession of different poets.

As documents in the narrower sense the two Quairs have little
light to throw upon fifteenth-century Scotland. In the wider
sense they shed much. They shew by their very imperfections
at what a mighty price in culture and attainment, as well as in
material comfort, the struggle with England was carried on. A
Scotsman who loves his country is touched by this poetic poverty.
He remembers that it is part of the payment for the conflict
which moulded the national character and gave to the Scottish
people a resoluteness and love of freedom which could not other
wise have been theirs.

Later Scottish poets have casual phrases which point to some
knowledge of the Quair. No one has borrowed from the sub
stance of it or has endeavoured to write in the manner of it,
though the stanza has been much used. Henryson possibly knew
the poem, and he has slight coincidences both of thought and
diction. The coincidences of thought are chiefly on the subject
of Fortune. Thus he writes in the Testament of Cresseid (549,

550):

So elevait I was in wantones

And clam upon the fickle quheill sa hie j67

and in The Lyon and the Mous :

Thow fals fortune ! quhilk of all variance

Is haill maistres and leidar of the dance. (200, 201).

More relevant is the passage in Orpheus and Eurydlce (453-458) :

And thir'thre turnis ay
Ane ugly quhele, is noucht ellis to say,
That warldly men sumtyme ar casten hie.
Apon the quhele, in grete prosperitee
And wyth a quhirl, tmwarly or thai witte,
Ar thrawin doun to pure and law estate.58

Henryson uses the phrase " golden wyre " :

As golden wyre sa glitterand was his hair (T. C. 177) ;59

and «ane spark of luf " (T. C. 5I2)60 and « cry peip anis," « Cry
peip, quhare euir 36 be" (U. M. and B. M. 26, 147), which recall
" Now, suete bird, say one's to me * pepe.' " 61

EARLIER AND LATER POETRY Ixxv

In Dunbar's poetry there are a few indications of knowledge
of the Quair in certain phrases in the Goldyn Targe as well as
in the invocation of Chaucer, and Gower, and Lydgate, and in
the address to his poem as a " lytill quair " in the last stanza.
Chaucer is addressed :

O reuerend Chaucer, rose of rethoris all,
As in oure tong ane flour imperial!,

That raise in Britane evvir, quho redis rycht,
Thou beris of makaris the tryumph riall.82

" Morall Gower and Lydgate laureate " are praised with more
warmth than discrimination :

Your angel mouthis most mellifluate

Our rude language has clere illumynate

And faire our-gilt oure speche, that imperfyte
Stude, or your goldyn pennis schupe to wryte :

This He before was bare and desolate
Off rethorike or lusty fresch endyte.63

The address to his Quair is in the usual style of modest
depreciation.

In Gavin Douglas there is practically nothing that would even
suggest knowledge of the Quair or of the other poems most
closely related to it. Possibly the line " Help, Calyope, and wynd,
in Marye name " (stanza xvii. 6) may have suggested the contrast
in the Proloug of the First Buik of the jEneid :

On thee I call, and Mary virgine myld,

Calliope nor pagane goddis wyld

May do to me no thing hot harme, I wene,

In Christ is all my traist and hewynnis quene.**

The Proloug of the Fowrt Buik05 has, in the course of "a
gud counsall to all wemen," the following passage which recalls
the Quare ofje/usy (467, 470) :

Fy on desait and fals dissimulance
Contrar to kynd wyth fen^eit cheir smyling,
Wndir the cloke of luffis obseruance,
The venom of the serpent redy to sting !

But as Douglas expressly refers to Gower he probably was think
ing of Auchinleck's original rather than of his poem.

While there is all but absence of reference in Douglas, Lyndsay
has a few passages which point to familiarity with the language
of the poem and occasionally he has references to King James I.

Ixxvi THE KINGIS QUAIR

himself, although he never expressly designs him poet. Yet, as
has been pointed out, he implies that James was a poet.66 He
alludes to the King's captivity and to Rothesay's death,67 and he
quotes the saying " He would make the rash bush keep the cow."68
He expressly refers to King James First's description of the over-
pious liberality of King David I.

King James the first, roy of this regioun,

Said that he was ane sair sanct to the crown. (II. 150.)

The most significant reference to the Quair^ already quoted, is :
And spairis nocht the prince more than the paige.69

Other references are scarcely doubtful. The opening lines of
The Prologue to the Dreme are reminiscent of the opening of the

Quatr :

In the Calendis of lanuarie

Quhen fresche Phebus, be moving circulair,
From Capricorne was enterit in Aquarie

With blastis that the branches maid full bare.70

So are the birds' blessing of summer, and the weltering of the
waves up and down (90 and 128), and the description of Venus :

Thay peirsit myne hart, hir blenkis amorous,
Quhowbeit that sumtyme, scho is changeabyll

With countenance and cheir full dolorous,

Quhylumis rycht plesand, glaid and delectabyll j
Sumtyme constant, and sumtyme variabyll.71

This recalls the picture of the goddess Fortune in stanza clxi. of
the Quair. The prologue to the Testament and Complaynt of the
Papyngo has one or two slighter resemblances. It announces that
the bell of rhetoric has been rung by Chaucer, Gower, and Lid-
gate laureate, and it shews a kindred feeling about birds. Like
Henryson, Lyndsay compares hair to gold wire :

Lyke the quhyte lyllie was hir lyre,
Hir hair wes like the reid gold wyre.72

In the Testament appended to the same poem he makes the
valiant squire deplore black suits of woe :

Dull weidis I think hypocrisie and scorne
With huidis heklet doun ouirthort thair ene.73

The hypocritical folk of religion, who freely served love in
secret, are seen by the poet attired in the same fashion :
For schame thaire hudis oure thaire eyne thay hyng.74

THE TEXTS AS IN THE MANUSCRIPTS Ixxvii

After Lyndsay's day, although the King's poetry is referred to
by Buchanan, as we have seen, there is nothing, so far as I remem
ber, to show that it was known to any Scottish or English poet,
until the re-discovery and publication of it by William Tytler
in 1783.

IV

THE TEXTS AS IN THE MANUSCRIPTS

THE unique MS. of the Kingis Qualr is part of the well-known
Bodleian volume already designated, and is written on folios
192-211. It has few features likely to rouse enthusiasm in a
student of palaeography. There is elaborate ornamentation on the
first page, but, except in occasional initial capital letters, none else
where. There is, throughout, a rudimentary system of punctua
tion which is observed in the transcript, but it would be difficult
to say on what principle it is based. The capital letter I has
several forms. They vary from a long bold letter to a much
shorter, which can with difficulty be distinguished from the
ordinary small cursive /. The contractions used are the ordinary
contractions of the period, and there were two scribes, the second
beginning at stanza clxxviii. I. The handwriting of each is
singularly uniform, but the second begins his work in a very fine
small script, and passes at clxxxii. 2 to a larger and bolder writing.
All experts are agreed that the manuscript belongs to the latter
half of the fifteenth century. Indeed it may belong to any decade
from 1488 to 1513. The late David Laing, who had made a
collation of Tytler's text with the MS., probably with a view to
a new edition, believed that it was written towards the end of the
fifteenth century.*

The MS., however, like many medieval copies of earlier
vernacular work, has not a few slight blunders, which make
amendment of the text necessary. Some errors of transcription
have been noted by the first scribe, and a later hand has sought
to amend, erroneously at one point, correctly at another. There

* Manuscript note in Laing's copy of Tytler's edition of the Quair, formerly
the property of the late John Scott, C.B., of Hawkhead, now in the possession
of the present editor.

Ixxviii THE KINGIS QUAIR

are, besides, other errors in the text, apparent from the faulty
rhythm of many verses, and these errors are due now to omission,
now to addition. A few errors are to be traced to wrong
reading of the original, this being manifest by a result which is
unintelligible.

The errors noted and corrected by the first scribe are these.
In xxi. 4 " freschenesse " is stroked out and " confort " put in
the margin, "in drede" is stroked out after " help " in xxviii. 7,
while in xlv. 5 a bungled " gan " is stroked through and a clear
" gan " written after it. In Ixxii. 3 " ly " is written before "lef"
but marked out, as "full" is after "smyte" in cv. 7, while in
cviii. 7 " graice " has over it certain strokes, as if for deletion, and
in cix. 7, " foule on " is written over " doken." There are two
corrections in cxv. In line 6 " breken " after " bot " is scored
through and written anew above, while in line 7 " Is non " is
written and the " non " is corrected to " no*," " eft," which follows,
being written in a bold hand over some other word simply begun,
while "none" is written above partly over "no/" and partly
over " eft." In cxxxiv. 7, " heid " is written above " ypocrisye,"
and in cxlv. I " the " before " creatures " is marked out and " 36 "
is written above. " In a rout can " copied from the line above is
repeated in cliii. 4. The stroking through, here, may be by a
later hand. Lines 4, 5, in clxxv., have been transposed in copy-

b
ing, but they are marked a unmistakably by the original scribe.

b
A similar transposition, in clxxxv. 4, 5, is noted by a in the left

margin and }tr on the right, but this correction is certainly by a
later hand, as is the addition of / to " pouert " in v. 6 ; line 4 of
clx. is incomplete, the word or one of the words omitted being
the rhyme word. In clxxxii. 4 the scribe corrects " coppin " to
" croppin " by writing r above o.

A mistake in copying accounts for the repetition of "floure-
ionettis " in xlvii. 5, taken down from the close of the line above.
Yet repetition of the same word in rhyme is an occasional
feature.*

Faults of rhythm, wholly out of keeping with the metrical

* Instances will be found in vii. 2, 5 j xxxvii. 6, 7 j clxxii. 4, 5.

THE TEXTS AS IN THE MANUSCRIPTS Ixxix

excellence of the main body of the poem, disclose two whole
classes of scribal mistakes. Monosyllables and final syllables are
often omitted ; sometimes, but much more rarely, two syllables
are lacking. Occasionally there is redundancy, and this where
the syllable cannot be regarded as a light ending to verse or half
verse. Instances of such omission (and there are many more, as
perusal of the exact transcript and comparison with the amended
text will shew) are to be found in iii. 3, viii. 7, ix. 2, xv. 4,
xxiv. 4, Ixxvi. 6, cxxii. 6, cxlii. 5, cxcvi. 5. As striking as any is
xiv. I, where two syllables are wanting and "Thou" is written
" Though." In xxiii. 4, Ivi. 7, Ixxiv. 7, and xcvii. 5, there are instances
of a wholly unmusical redundant syllable, and these are but a few
out of a considerable number. Other slips of the scribes are the
running together of words which should be separate and the
separation of parts of a word which should be united. Thus
" quitis " is written for " quit is " in vi. 4, and " alyte " for " a
lyte" in clxi. 3. " Tocum " in xiv. 6, like " salbe " in cxcv. 4,
is a common Middle Scots scribal practice.

On the other hand such severances as " lok in " for " lokin "
in cxxxv. 5, and " bynd and " for " byndand " in cvii. 5 are the
result of pure misunderstanding on the part of the scribe, as are
"theire" for " thir " in vi. 5, "wil" for " wel " in cxxxiii. 2,
" this " for " thinkis " in clxxxiii. 5, " cunnyng " for " cummyn "
in clxxxv. 6, "quhile" for " quhele," clxxxix. 7, "one" for
"me" in cxci. 6, and "chiere" for "chere " in clxi. 3. To the
same kind of blundering are probably to be attributed "late" for
" lyte " in i. 5, " north northward " for " north-north-west " in
i. 7, " poetly " for " poleyt " iv. 6, " hailsing " for " halflyng "
in clxvi. 4, and " sanctis " for " factis " in cxci. 3. But these last
are matters of opinion not of fact, although the probability of their
being mistakes is strong, as is the conclusion that " Citherea " in
i. 3 is an error for " Cinthia " and " Inpnis " not for " Impnis "
but for "Ympis" in the last stanza of the poem. Difficulties
are presented likewise by " said renewe " in cxxv. 5, by the line

cxx. 2 :

Vnto the quhich je aught and maist weye,

and by the couplet clxx. 6, 7 :

Be fro ward opposyt quhare till aspert,
Now sail thai turn, and luke on the dert.

Ixxx THE KINGIS QUAIR

The natural inference from these facts — and the statement of
them is not exhaustive — is that precious though the MS. be it is
not absolutely authoritative. It is not an autograph ; yet looking
to the character of some of the first scribe's corrections, it is
possibly a copy of an autograph, which here and there had been
difficult to read, and had traces of corrections some of which, like
those in xxi. 4 and xxviii. 7, have passed over to the copy.

As there are no other manuscripts for comparison the quest
of a true text ought perhaps to be abandoned as impracticable.
Johnson's maxims rise to the mind. " The collator's province is
safe and easy, the conjecturer's perilous and difficult. There is
danger lest peculiarities should be mistaken for corruptions and
passages rejected as unintelligible which a narrow mind happens
not to understand." Yet an endeavour to construct a true text
is at least less censurable when the actual text is given ; for when
comparison of one part of the poem with another, and conjecture
in the light of MS. and other poetry of the time have failed to
give a satisfactory solution of what are certainly difficulties, prob
ably errors, failure may suggest a solution to some one else. One
cannot say that the arrangement of verses cxxxv. 4, 5 is wrong.
The imperfect knitting of the syntax may be due to the poet,
not to the scribe. But as there is one certain derangement in
clxxv. 4, 5, and another highly probable in clxxxv. 4, 5, it is at
least permissible to rearrange stanza cxxxv. and also ex.

Professor Skeat found the clue to many faults of rhythm by
pointing to the scribe's imperfect mastery of Chaucer's use of
final <?. How much of what we find in rhythmical confusion is
due to the poet, how much to the scribe, cannot be decided.
Probably the greater part, perhaps the whole, is due to the scribes,
who could not have such familiarity with the verse of Chaucer as
the poet. The methods of Scottish medieval scribes with final e are
past finding out. No better instance of the restoration of melody
to a verse could be given than Dr. Skeat's amendment of the MS.

in xxxii. 4 :

The scharp grene suete lenepere
which becomes

The scharpe grene suete lenepere.

A glance at his suggested readings given with the amended text
will shew how effective his method is. It is not a complete

THE TEXTS AS IN THE MANUSCRIPTS Ixxxi

explanation, however, and he has occasionally applied his key
where a closer investigation scarcely sanctions its use, for example
in "estate" (iii. 6) and " pryncfi " (ix. 5), in « foure* " (xxi. i),*
in cix. 7, where the rhythm does not require it, and in the sugges
tion that i. 7 should read " north northfiward." It may at least be
debated whether the poet did not in such words as " fair " take the
liu^rty of now making them monosyllables, now dissyllables, fair,
as they are in some Scottish dialects to this day. This variation
according to metrical needs is a common feature of Chaucer's
verse, especially with regard to the accentuation of French words.t
It is found in the Quair : confort is now confort (iv. 7 and xxv. 7)
and again confort (cxxiii. 4 and cxxvii. 5). The same kind of
alternation we find in the Quare of yelusyy where in lines 598, 599,
we have "aire" and "fire" monosyllabic, and in 18 "ayer," in
557 "fyir," dissyllabic, if "fyir" be the correct reading.

There is, of course, peril attending the introduction of un
represented words of one or two syllables into an amended text.
But as the rhythm and sometimes the sense demand such additions
the main question is whether they are made with due regard to
analogy. Thus to introduce an initial " And " in i. 7 and xlvii. i
may seem arbitrary. Yet we find initial " And " omitted in the
last line of the last stanza of the Ballad of Good Counsel (Camb. MS.)
where not only the Bannatyne MS. and the Gude and Godlie
Ballatis version but the first stanza of the Cambridge version itself
prove that it must have been written by the poet. Besides a
frequent symbol for "and" was @, which might easily be over
looked. Similarly the manifest omission of a two-syllable word
before " 3outh " in xiv. I justifies Dr. Skeat's suggestion of "sely,"
occasionally used elsewhere in the poem, as perhaps it may justify
the alternative " tendir " in the text, suggested by the corresponding
passage in the Quare of Jelusy. In clxxxix. i likewise, some such
word as " hye*," " grete," or " blisfull " is needed for balance and
for rhythm. Dr. Skeat has given " heyfi " applied to Venus in
xcix. i ; " blissfull " in the text, from cxcii. 4, is adopted rather as
an alternative than as an improvement. None of the words sug-

* FourC is Gower's pronunciation. Scottish usage and the Old English
form feOwer suggest fowfir as the sound. In L. L. 610 to keep the rhythm
xxiiij must be pronounced twenty-fower.

t Ten Brink — "Chaucers Sprache und Verskunst," § 284.

Ixxxii THE KINGIS QUAIR

gested may give the poet's text, but some such adjective he certainly
did use. In the Notes reasons are given for readings adopted except
for vocal final e\ en, and initial j;, the explanation in such cases
being obvious.

The Quare of Jelusy, as has already been noted, is found in the
same MS. It may have been written by the second scribe of the
Kingis Quair, but this is doubtful.* It begins at the top of folio 22 1
verso, and ends on 228 verso. The MS. has been slightly damaged
on 225 verso, 226 verso, on 227 and 227 verso, and on 228. On
227 and 228 some initial words have been wholly obliterated.
Some liquid seems to have been spilled over the parts thus blurred.
Blanks are supplied from Laing's text. The handwriting is uniform
throughout. Highly ornamental capitals are found at the opening
of the poem, of the address to youth, and of the " Trety in the
reprefe of lelusy." Elsewhere elaborate capitals are more common
than in the earlier poem. There are no corrections by the scribe
as in the first part of the Kingis Quair, but there are kindred slips
in transcription, as is evident from omissions of small words and
from faults in rhythm and occasional redundancies. Yet, from
the character of the poem as a whole, one is disposed now and
again to blame the poet rather than the scribe, although probably
to the scribe are to be assigned most of the errors. As these are
specified in suggested amendments to the text and briefly com
mented on in the Notes, all that is here necessary is to give a few
instances of the kind of emendation required. Addition of final e
gives proper rhythm in line 17, "But walking furth upon the
newe grene," in 67, " The scharpe deth mote perce me throuch
the hert"; in 119 " quhich to my hertg sat full very nere."
Initial " and " corrects both metre and thought in 1. 83, " And
wote that I am sakelese, me defende," while the substitution of
"Leuith" for " Beleuith " in 589 gives at once rhythm and
meaning, although " beleue " is used in the same sense as " leue,"
but not frequently. Possibly the text might be kept by pro
nouncing "beleu'th." "Ilk" for "thilk" in 1. 86, and "ony"
for " mony " in 1. 198, and " sewe " for " schewe " in 1. 533 give
the poet's meaning. Short words have fallen out of the text as in
11. 143, 223, 345, 378, and 494, and the probability is that the
* See Appendix C — The scribes of the two Quairs.

THE TEXTS AS IN THE MANUSCRIPTS Ixxxiii

poet wrote "off" and not "under" in 1. 78, and "fyir" not
"tigir" in 557.

The Ballad of Good Counsel has an interest of a wholly different
kind. The three forms of it make a probable reconstruction of
the original possible. The Cambridge MS., which gives the
oldest form, is plainly the least accurate. One whole stanza is
wanting, and, considering the length of the piece, scribal errors
are numerous. Yet this version is important because it shews
very clearly the kind of negligence which may be looked for in
copies of medieval vernacular poems, while the later versions
exhibit the unconscious process of modernisation which went on
when a scribe of a later generation undertook to give a copy of an
earlier poem to his contemporaries. Testing the Cambridge MS.
by Dr. Skeat's restored version,* which most scholars will generally
approve,t we find eight errors in fourteen lines, to say nothing of
the omission of the second stanza. If, on the other hand, we test
the later versions by the earliest, where this has manifestly the
better readings, we see that neither has " noblay," or " weill," or
" sew," and in each case the word substituted is meant to explain
what has become archaic.

LANGUAGE OF THE POEMS

To discuss the language of the Ballad a sentence or two will
suffice. In its earliest form it is fifteenth century Scots without
admixture of English. The inflections shew this purity —
" incressis," " steppis," u eene," which the scribe wrote amiss as
" erne." "A spane " is also early, as is the noun " noblay," which
is found in Gower1 and Chaucer,2 in the Bruce3 and the Lives of
the Saints* but not, so far as I have noted, in Henryson, Dunbar,
Douglas or Lyndsay.

The Kingis Quair presents a more complex problem and the
first aspect of it meets us in some slight linguistic differences in
the portions written by the different scribes. In the last twenty
stanzas we find two words in a form never used by the first scribe.

* S. T. S. Ed. ofK. Q., p. 54.

t The close of 1. 5 was, perhaps, " that first thy lyf began."

Ixxxiv THE KINGIS QUAIR

These are " witht " (clxxviii. 4) and " coutht " (cxcvi. 6). Of
many noun plurals all are in " is " or " ys " except one " tymgs "
(clxxx. 2). " War " as preterite of the verb " to be " occurs twice
(clxxxii. 4 and clxxxvii. 4). This form does not once occur in the
foregoing one hundred and seventy-seven stanzas. " Endith " for
"endit" (cxcvi. i ), " plesandly " (clxxviii. 5), and the spellings hich
and boith are also peculiar to this part. There are three Midland
English present indicative plurals: "ben" (clxxix. 2), "lyven"
(clxxxvi. 2), and "glitteren" (clxxxix. 2), and two third singular
presents, " hath " (cxci. 4) and " flourith " (cxciii. 4). There is one
second singular present indicative in yst — " cummyst " (cxcv. I ).
Every weak preterite ends in //, and one present participle in
and — " lyvand " (cxcvii. 3) ; " wald " occurs, never " wold."
English contamination of Scottish speech is thus at almost the
lowest point consistent with its presence in the poet's language.

When we turn to the much larger portion of the poem written
by the first scribe we find a liberal mingling of English and
Scottish forms with an additional slight element of provincialism
or, it may be, of deliberate artificiality. In the noun the common
Southern English plural form es is of frequent occurrence : sterres,
peynes, stremes, menes, aleyes, leues, assayes, hertes, dremes,
bemes, layes, dayes, armes, ladyes, bodyes, and others are found,
but the prevailing plural is in is, occasionally ys. In the adjective
no plural form is found except in occasional final e as in " smale
grene twistis" (xxxiii. i), "the suete grene bewis" (Ixvii. 2), and
this vocal final e is not regular. The poet, as Dr. Skeat has shewn
in great detail,* followed Chaucer in occasional employment of
the definite form of the adjective which had a vocal final e. The
definite form occurs after a possessive pronoun, and after the, that,
and this. Instances are so frequent that it is not necessary to
mention more than one or two by way of illustration. Such we
have in "the plane" (xxxvi. i), "the coldg" (Ixxiii. 4), "the
slawe," "the nycg" (civ. 4, 5).

In the verb the second singular present indicative is found in

the normal Scottish form " thou seis" (Ixxxviii. 2), " standis

thou " and " wantis " (cxv. 6, 7), " thou has " (liv. 4), " thou

descendis" (cxv. i), "gynnis" (Ivii. 7), but there is also the

* Introd. K. Q., p. xxix.

LANGUAGE OF THE POEMS Ixxxv

Southern " hastow " (Iviii. i), and " wostow " for " woldest thou "
(lix. 3).

The Southern third person singular present eth, generally repre
sented by /'//;, is very common, but the Scottish form in is prevails,
while the present plural is found in en and ith and is. The en for
this inflection is so common that it amply justifies Dr. Skeat's
addition of it to words where it is not written, in order to correct
the rhythm. The use of the several inflections seems to be
entirely arbitrary. Thus in cxviii. we read " dropen," " styntith,"
" murnyth," " haue," and " hiden," while in cxix. there are
" flouris springis," " birdis sing," " gynnen folk renew." The
Scottish weak preterite /V, with the variant id, prevails, " rynsid "
(i. 4), but the Southern ed is found in " heved " (i. 6), " ensured "
(ix. 5), "despeired" (xxx. 2), " depeynted " (xliii. 4), "maked"
(ex. 7).

In the verb to be « bene," " ben," " ar," " are," and " is " (cxx. 3)
are all found as present plural indicative. The Midland preterite
" weren " occurs (xxiv. 6), but this form is required by the
metre ; elsewhere it is " were " (xcii. I, 3, 6 ; xciii. 3). The
Southern imperative plural is also found in cii. 5 " schapith," and
this fact may justify the amendment of the text to " worschippeth"
(cxxxiv. i), "chideth" (Ivi. 6), and " groundith " (cxxxi. 6).
The Southern pure infinitive and gerundial infinitive in en are
also common, while the Northern present participle in and occurs
but once, in " byndand," if this be the correct reading and the
scribe have bungled by separating bynd and and. Provincialisms
are " gardyng " in xxxiii. 5, " I falling " in xlv. 4, and an artificial
form is " forehede," if " fairhede " be the correct reading.

One of the most marked Southern English characteristics is the
use of the modified intensive past participle prefix y or /, for Old
English gey which at a very early period largely disappeared from
the Northern dialect. It remains in I-blent, I-laid, i-thankit,
i-wonne,* y-bete, y-bought, y-callit, y-thrungin, y-wallit. That
this Southern survival is so frequent makes the restoration of it
natural where rhythm is defective in verses with past participles,
and that it is necessary for the metre shews that it cannot be

* References will be found in the Glossary. « y-bete" is probably an
infinitive. See note in loco.

Ixxxvi THE KIN CIS QUAIR

regarded as a scribal peculiarity. But for this fact one might
have explained the much stronger English colouring of the first
scribe's work by his being himself of southern origin. A puzzling
alternation of dialect is found in the use of " wald " and " wold,"
" wate " and " wote." On the other hand the Northern forms
" sail " and " suld " are invariable.

The language of the Quare of Jelusy closely resembles that of
the Kingis Quair in its artificiality. It is a Scottish-English com
pound, but the compound has characteristic differences and one or
two peculiarities to which there is nothing similar in the MS.
text of the earlier poem, though some of them are common
enough in Middle Scots (418). Such are " y-suffering " (369) for
" sttfFeren " as third plural present indicative, and " beith " for
" is " in 519, and " is tone " for " tane," and " hath tone " (575).
In some ways the language is more markedly Scottish than that of
the Quair, in others more emphatically English. The poet or the
scribe always uses " beseke " for "beseech" (187, 312, 597) ; he
has the form "ta" for " take" (73) ; and in 171 he has "war"
for " were," while more characteristically Scottish in spirit if not
in usage is "was " for " were " in 257 — "was thir Ladies ever in
honour hold." Scottish also is " mon " for " must " (266), as are
" one creature " (although the o for a is English) and " ane suich
offence " (66), if " ane " be the correct reading. All weak preterites
without exception are in it. The Poem has es plurals in almost the
same proportion — " ladyes " and " ladies " several times, " termes "
and " stories." In the infinitive and gerundial infinitive there is
the same alternation of Southern and Northern forms. The scribe
writes most frequently yny sometimes /», for en : gladin, plesyn,
chesyn, sittyn, fallyn, encressyn, but he has writen (178) and
suffren (228).

Southern influence is chiefly apparent in second and third person
singular of the present indicative, in the imperative, and in the
past participle. For the second person singular present the genuine
Scottish is occurs but seldom — "thou knowis" (8i),and even here
Southern o takes the place of Northern a, "thou leis " (471),
" makis thou " (509). The false form " thou passith," " thou
faylith," " thou werketh " is by comparison frequent. For the
third singular ith occurs all but invariably. The Scottish inflection

LANGUAGE OF THE POEMS Ixxxvii

is found in 240, " that lyis," and there it is needed for rhyme.
Imperatives in ith are numerous — " helpith, excusith, leuith,"
and others. Past participles with the intensive y prefix are twice
as common as in the Kingis Quair : " y-brocht, y-come, y-slawe,
y-murderit, y-marterit, y-writte, y-bound, y-ground, y-sett,
y-ronne, y-fret, y-brent." " Sail " is occasionally found, but
"schall" is the prevailing form as is " schuld," once "schold"
(217), but " suld " now and again occurs. " Wald " and " wold "
are both written. The present participle is always ing, never and.
The relative pronoun in both poems is variously quho, quhois, that,
quhich, the which, quhilk, in the Quare of Jelusy there is also which
that. In the Kingis Quair that is the favourite relative, in the
other poem the which.

In Lancelot of the Laik there are all the varieties in noun,
pronoun, and verb inflections which are found in the other poems,
but the verbal forms are more frequently varied in spelling, the
preterite plural of the verb " to be " appearing in six forms* war,
veiry ware, waren, veryng, waryng. The poem has besides two
peculiarities which never appear in either of the other poems. It
has sometimes at for that (1027, 1198, 1235), and with equal
frequency the form iff for give (1655, 1722, 1751). There is
a curious variety in the use of the word " wy " meaning " wight."
It never occurs in the Kingis Quair, it is found once in Lancelot,
it is a common word in the Quare of Jelusy. If we accept some
variations as scribal, especially the two above-noted peculiarities in
Lancelot, there is little to take from the conclusion that possibly we
have not three poets but one. A certain lack of uniformity may
be looked for where the language used is artificial.

Certain other features require to be noted. Lancelot and the
Quare of Jelusy frequently have sett for though, the Kingis Quair
has not this word at all. Lancelot has occasionally, but not often,
supponit, proponit, dispone, the Quare of Jelusy has dispone twice, the
Kingis Quair has not this form. In the use of one or one before a
normal consonant the poems show a striking uniformity, and, so
far as there is variety, it is in agreement with what we have
ventured to suggest as their historical order. Lancelot, in 3,486
lines, has this usage twice — "in one plane" (683), "one new
* Dr. Skeat's preface to L. I., p. xv.

Ixxxviii THE KINGIS QU'AIR

assemble" (930) — the Kingis Quair, in 1,379 lines, has it once —
" ane surcote," already noted — the Quare of Jelusy, in 607 lines,
has it thrice, if "did ane" is a proper amendment of " didin " in
line 66. The other instances are "one lady" (145) and "ane
noble hert" (304). How widely apart from other Middle Scots
poems in this respect, as in the employment of English forms,
these poems are, may be estimated by this contrast : Henryson in
the Testament of Cresseid, which is but nine lines longer than the
Quare of Jelusy, has this construction fifty-eight times ; Douglas,
in 424 lines of King Hart, has it thirty times.

The whole subject of the language of these poems, especially of
the Kingis Quair, might well raise the question of a possible relation
between it and fragment B of the Romaunt of the Rose. Dr. Skeat
has shortly discussed it in §§ 73-76 of The Chaucer Canon, and is
not altogether unfavourable to the hypothesis which was first
suggested by Professor Seeley. He points to resemblances in sub
stance, metre and diction. That the poet of the Quair knew
something of the content of the Romaunt of the Rose is certain.
He probably knew fragment B, as will be evident from the Notes.
There are touches in ix. 5, and in cxxxyi., which suggest not
merely the thought of the Romaunt but the language, as will be
apparent from 6333 and 6261, 2. But had the poet of the Quair
been also a translator of the French poem we may confidently
conclude from his free and constant use of Chaucer and of Lydgate's
Temple of Glas that he would have drawn much more upon the
older treasury. The whole strain of the language, the grammatical
inflections, the ever-recurring her and hem for their and them point
to a writer widely different from the author of the Kingis Quair.
The Northern cast of fragment B is slight and casual. In the
Kingis Quair it is emphatic and fundamental.

REFERENCES TO INTRODUCTION Ixxxix

REFERENCES TO INTRODUCTION

I

LIFE OF KING JAMES

1 Dunbar — Scottish Kings, p. 182, founding on Scotichron., xvi., 14, says that

James was born in December. But suum natale tenuit here means " kept
his Christmas."
a Wyntoun — Oryg. Chron., ix., c. 20.

3 National MSS. of Scotland, Bart II., No. xlix.

4 Oryg. Chron., ix., c. 15, 11. 1633-4.

•'' Exchequer Rolls, iv., p. clxxi., No. 2 ; Dunbar's Scottish Kings, p. 180.
8 E. R. as above, No. i ,• Dunbar — ibid.

7 Boece — Scot. Hist., xvi., p. 334.

8 Buchanan — Scot. Hist., ix., c. 64.

!) Lord Bute — Essays on Modern Subjects, p. 156.

10 Regist. Epis. Morav., p. 382 $ Scotichron., II., p. 422.

11 Acts of Parliament of Scot., I., p. 572. By this Act, of date June 23,

1398, Rothesay was to act with the advice of the Council General, in
their absence with the counsel of wise men and leal, among whom are
named the Duke of Albany, Lord Brechin (Earl of Atholl), the Bishops
of St. Andrews, Glasgow, and Aberdeen, the Earls of Douglas, Ross,
Moray, Crawford.

2 Lord Bute — Essays, as above, p. 163.

13 Scotichron., xv., c. n.

14 Ibid., xv., c. 12 } Oryg. Chron., ix., c. 22, 11. 2193-2202.

15 Scotichron., xv., c. 12.

16 Extracta, p. 208$ Oryg. Chron., ix., c. 23, 11. 221 1-2234 > B°°* of Plus -

carden, x., c. 17.

17 Acts Parl. Scot., I., p. 210.

18 Scotichron., xv., c. 12.

19 Ibid., c. 1 8.

20 Wylie — History of England under Henry IV., II., p. 264, quoting Fon-

blanque — Annals of House of Percy, I., p. 241.
1 Diet. Nat. Biog., xliv., p. 405.

12 Brennan — A History of the House of Percy, p. 89.

23 Evidence given to Universities Commission in 1826 and in 1830, III.,

pp. 171 sqq.

24 Scotichron., xv., c. 18.

26 Anchiennes Croniques d'Engkterre, I., p. 209.

* OVS' Chron., ix., c. 25, 11. 2671-2710.

57 Croniklis of Scotland, Bk. xvi., c. 15.

28 Probably a mistake in transcription : ix. should be xi.

& Another mistake : MCCCCIV. should be MCCCCVI.

0 Vid. Appendix A — Date of capture of James.
31 K. Q., stanzas xxiii., xxiv.
w Scotichron., Bk. xv., c. 18.
33 Chronicle, II., p. 273.

xc THE KINGIS QUAIR

34 Chronicle of Kingdom of Scotland, p. 70.

35 Scotichron., Bk. xv., c. 18.

36 Bellenden — as above in 34.

37 Hist, of Scot., III., p. 133.

38 Qryg. Chron., Bk. ix., c. 26, 11. 2711-18. Bower says that death of

Robert III. fell on March 28, 1405. Scotichron., xv., c. 18.
]!) Scottish Kings, p. 183.

40 Oryg. Chron., ix., c. 26, 11. 2729-2768.

41 Rymer — Foed, viii., p. 450.

II

1 Bain — Calendar of documents relating to Scotland, IV., No. 723, quoting

Issue Roll of Pells, 7 Henry IV.

2 Ibid., No. 727.

3 Date should be 31 October last, if no days be a correct reckoning.

Issue Rolls, Pells, Michaelmas, 9 Henry IV., quoted by Bain, IV., No. 769.
Bain — as above, IV., No. 739.
Ibid., No. 777.
Ibid., No. 780.
Rymer — Foed, viii., p. 635.
9 Ibid., p. 694.

10 Ibid., pp. 734, 735.

11 Scottish Historical Review — April, 1906, pp. 313, 314. Evidence given to

Universities Commission in 1826 and 1830, III., pp. 171 sqq.

12 Scotichron., xvi., c. 30.

13 Rymer — Foed, viii., pp. 735-7.

14 Ibid., ix., p. 323.

15 National MSS. of England, Part I., No. 36, quoted by Bain, IV., No. 822.

16 National MSS. of Scotland, Part II., No. 62.

17 The Kingis Quair — A New Criticism, p. 93.

18 I-, PP- 346, 347-

19 Rymer — Foed, ix. p. 2.

20 Bain— ix., No. 846.

21 Rymer — Foed, ix., p. 44.

22 Scotichron., xv., c. 18 ; Wylie as above, II., p. 61.

23 "Wylie, as above j Excerpta Historic a, p. 144.

24 Major — History of Greater Britain, p. 366. (Scot. Historical Soc. ed.)

25 Bain— IV., No. 852.

26 Scotichron., xv., c. 22.

27 Excerpta Historic a, p. 145.

28 Charles, born May 26, 1391, was three years James's senior. He was

prisoner at Windsor in 1416. (D'H^ricault's Pref. to Poems of Charles
d'Orle"ans, pp. xi, xxvii.)

29 Rymer — Foed, ix., p. 307.

30 Ibid., p. 323. 31 Ibid., p. 341.
32 Ibid., p. 41. 33 Ibid.

34 The original document is in the Historical Department of the Register

House, Edinburgh.

35 Sir William Eraser — Red Book of Menteith, I., pp. 283, 284. Eraser is of

opinion that the letters were brought to Scotland in February, 1416, by
John Lyon, the King's chaplain. Lyon went to England in May, 1412,
<f on a safe-conduct which was to continue until the King's liberation ;
and on January 20, 1416, he received a safe-conduct from Henry V. to
proceed to Scotland, and the letters bear date 30 January."

REFERENCES TO INTRODUCTION

XCl

38 Red Book ofMenteith, as above.

37 The reading in the MS. of letters is as like " Abbe " as "Awe."
18 Vol. II., p. 221.

39 Rymer — Foed, ix., 591.

40 Bain— IV., Nos. 886, 892, 895.
" Ibid., No. 898.

42 Ibid.

43 Vickers — Life of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, p. 98.

44 Boece, Bk. xvi., p. 344 ; Bellenden — Croniklis, Bk. xvi., c. 19.

45 Ramsay's Lancaster and York, I., p. 286.

48 Chronicle of William Gregory, Skinner, p. 139.

47 Scotichron, II., p. 461.

48 Rymer — Foed, x., p. 123 ; Bain — IV., No. 905.

49 Rymer — Foed, x., p. 125.

50 Ibid., pp. 153, 154.

51 Bain— IV., No. 911.

52 William Drummond of Hawthornden — History and Lives of the Five Jameses

Kings of Scotland, p. 16.

53 Bain., No. 918.

64 Hardyng's Chronicle, p. 387.
55 Stevenson — Letters, Rolls Series, I., p. 390.
58 Rot. Scot., II., p. 234.
57 Rymer— Foed, x., p. 286.
68 Ibid., p. 290.
89 Ibid., p. 293.
80 Ibid., p. 294.

61 Stevenson — Letters and Papers, II., p. 444.
« E. R. IV, 79.
3 Rymer — Foed, x., pp. 298-9.

64 Ibid., p. 298.

65 Bain — IV., Nos. 939, 934.

66 Rot. Scot., II., p. 246 ; Rymer — Foed, x., p. 322.
87 Gregory's Chronicle, as above, p. 157.

68 Rymer — Foed, x., p. 323.

69 Ibid., pp. 332-3 ; Bain — IV., No. 949.
7<> Ibid., p. 343.

71 Ibid.

HI

1 This section throughout is based upon the Scotichronicon and Acts of Parlia

ment of Scotland, vol. ii., pp. 1-24. Tytler's account of the reign of James,
recent excellent Histories notwithstanding, is still the most detailed record
of the period.

2 Scotich., II., p. 466.

Ibid, p. 467.
R

4 Ibid., p. 511

Kymer, x.

Maitland Club — Life and Death of King James the First of Scotland, pp. 47

sqq.

7 Ibid., p. 28.

8 See above Introd. I (ii.), note 36.

9 Red Book ofMenteith, I, p. 291 ; II., pp. 293 sqq.

10 Maitland Club — Dethe of the Kynge of Scotis, p. 50.

11 Bellenden's translation, xvi., c. 17.

12 Scottish Historical Review, April, 1906.

Ibid.

xcii THE KINGIS QUAIR

14 MS. of copy of Charters in St. Andrews Univ. Library, printed in Evidence

before Univ. Commission, as above.
15a Ibid.

15b MS. copy of Statutes of Faculty of Theology.
15c Scot. Hist. Review, April, 1 906 ; MS. Minutes of Faculty of Arts.

16 Rymer, x., p. 410.

17 Ibid., p. 482.

18 Ibid., p. 486.

19 Scotich., II., 499.

20 Hist, of Scotland, III., p. 242.

21 Scotich., II., p. 506.

22 R. S. Rait — Outlines of Relation between England and Scotland, p. 114.

23 Chronicon, p. 15.

24 Tytler, III., p. 254-

25 Act. Parl. Scot., II., p. 14.

26 Theiner — Monumenta, pp. 373-375.

27 Raynald — Annal Eccl., ix., year 1436, xxx.

28 Romance of a King's Life, pp. 51-55.

29 Diet. Nat. Biog., Art. James I. of Scotland.

30 Raynald, as above, xxxii.

3 a Book of Pluscarden, I., p. 5.

31 Romance of a King's Life, pp. 62 sqq.

32 This has been denied by Riddell — Inquiry into Peerage and Consistorial Law,

p. 262. But Riddell misinterprets various entries in the Exchequer Rolls,
vol. vi. James Stewart, brother of the King, is Queen Joan's son by her
second husband.

33 Chronicon, p. 29. 34 Ibid.

35 See Appendix B — The several accounts of the murder of King James.

36 Chronic on, p. 29.

IV

37 Scotich., II., pp. 504-511.

38 Hist. Greater Brit., p. 366. (Scot. Hist. Soc. Ed.)

39 Boece — xvi., c. 16, fol. cccliii., 11. 57, 58. Bellenden — xvi., c. 16.

40 Bale — Scrip. Illust. Catalog., Centuria decima quarta, No. Ivi.

40* King James First as a royal author finds a place between Kenneth King of
Scots and Henry VIII. (Bishop Montague's preface.)

41 Hist. Eccl. Scot. Gent., II., p. 381.

42 Edition of 1578. It is the last poem in the volume.

43 The MS. is noted by Professor Skeat as Kk. I. 5, fol. 5. A facsimile is

given.

44 See Introd., Section II.

II
AUTHENTICITY OF THE QUAIR

1 Authorship of Kingis Quair — Maclehose, 1896.

2 K. Q. (S. T. S. Ed.), Introd., p. xxv.

3 Facsimile National MSS. of Scotland, Part II., No. Ixii.

4 Authorship of K. Q., as above, pp. 26, 27.

5 Ibid., p. 30.

6 Ibid., p. 48.

7 Nine poets are mentioned.

REFERENCES TO INTRODUCTION xciii

8 History of Scotland, I., p. 219.
» Page 23.

10 Cambridge History of English Literature — II., p. 243.

11 The Kingis Quair and the New Criticism. (A. Brown and Co., Aberdeen,

1898.)

12 Scottish Vernacular Literature, pp. 95-102.

13 Athenaum, August 15, 1896.

14 Revue Historique, vol. Ixiv., pp. 1-49.
is R. S. //.— x., c. 57.

16 See above — Introduction I. (iii.).

17 See K. Q., stanza clx., 1. i.

18 Brus, xix., 663, in Edinburgh MS. ; also in Ed. MS., 656. Wyntoun,

O. C., II.,c. x., 917.

19 See Appendix A. " Date of the capture of King James."

20 See above, note n.

21 See above, Introduction I., iv.

22 Letters of King James in Red Book ofMenteith.
;3 MS. folio 129.

2* Mr. Sidney Lee in Art. Lydgate, Diet. Nat. Biog.

25 Stanza Ixxxv., 1. 3.

26 Poems I., p. 4 (D'Hericault's edition).

27 Ibid., pp. 13, 97, 104.

28 Ibid., I., pp. 115, 143, 144, 151, 158, 162.
*•> Ibid., 62, 63, 76.

30 Ibid, p. I57.

31 Ibid., 163.

2 Ibid., vol. ii., p. 83.
33 Stanzas cxxiii., clxxxvi., cxcvii.
3* Wyntoun, O. C., ix., c. 25.

35 Maitland Club — Chron. Jac. Prim., p. 17.

Ill
THE QUAIR AND EARLIER AND LATER POETRY.

1 See note in loco.

2 O. C., ix., c. 25.

3 Pp. 59, 60.

K. Q.t note on stanza cxcvii.

K. Q., stanza ix.

Ibid., stanza Ixviii.

See H. Wood in Anglia, III., pp. 223 sqq

Stanzas xxxiii.-xxxvi., Ivii.-lxi.

Stanzas clxxvii. clxxix.

10 Ovid, Metamorph. xi.

11 Book of Duchess, 651-662.

12 Ibid., 708 ; K. Q., Ixx.

13 Parlement of Foules, 187-189 ; K. Q., st. cliii. ; P. F., 683 ; K. Q., st. xxxiv.

14 H. F., III., 94 ; K. Q., st. Ixxvii.
is T. C., I., 837-840.

« Ibid., iv., 933-1078.
" Ibid., I., 416.
is Ibid., II., i sqq.

xcliv THE KINGIS QUAIR

19 Ibid., III., 1371.

20 Ibid., I., 6 sqq.

21 Ibid., II., 1196.

22 Ibid., III., 159-161 ; K. Q., st. cxliii.

23 Ibid., I., 54.7 ; K. Q., st. xxxi., Ixxi., i.

24 K. T., 1030-1332.

25 C T.— B. 194 ; K. 0, cxcvi.

26 C. T. — A. 1238 ; C. T.— B. 3330 and passim.

27 N. P. T.

2* C. T.— A. 3713-4 ; D. 2242 ; G. 782.

29 C.T.-B. 3914.

30 C. T.— B. 3685-8 ; K. 0., st. iii.-vii.

31 T. C., I., 778 sqq. ; II., 771 sqq. ; V., 232-243.

32 Introd. to T. G., cxxxi.-cxxxiii.
a Temple of Glas, 1-16.

34 Ibid., 143 sqq.
36 Ibid., 958-960.

36 Ibid., 503 sqq.

37 Ibid, 271 ;*. 0,1, 4.

8 Ibid., 112, 445 ; K. 0, xcv., i.

39 Ibid., 603-4 ; K. 0, cxxxv.

40 Ibid, 962-3 ; K. Q., xiii, 3.
« Ibid., 1393-

42 See below.

43 F. C, 50-56 ; K. Q., sts. xxvii, xxxviii., xxxix.

44 R. andS, 1392; K.Q.,dx.

45 Ibid., 1571-3 ; K. Q.) xcvii.

46 Bk. I., 699-718.

47 K. Q., xxvi.

48 Ibid., cxcvi.

49 K. 0, vi, xvi., xxvi.

so I. L., 318-334-
" K. Q., iii.

62 Ibid., vii., 2-4.

63 Laing says Glasgow, but in the St. Andrews Roll, under year 1471, there is

the entry — Jas: Auchlek, pauper.

64 Bannatyne Club Miscell., ii., 161-2.
M JST. 0., xiv. 5 0.7-, 191-

^ Small's Ed, i., 12.
57 K. 0., clxiii.-clxv.

68 Ibid.

59 K. Q., i., 4.
«° Ibid, xlviii, 5.

61 Ibid, Ivii, 6.

62 Dunbar's Poems, i, 10. (S. T. S. Ed.)
es Ibid.

64 Small's Ed, ii, 17, 18.

65 Ibid., ii., 171.

6e T. and C. of the Papyngo, 431-2, Laing's Ed, i, 77.
*7 Ibid, 76.

63 Ibid, 57.

69 Ibid, p. 17, line 411.

70 Ibid, 3.

™ Ibid, p. 16.

REFERENCES TO INTRODUCTION xclv

72 Ibid., 189 ; Squyer Meldrum, 948-9.

73 Ibid., 215 ; Testament of Squyer Meldrum, 1721-2.

74 K. Q., Ixxxix.

V
LANGUAGE OF THE POEMS

1 Conf. Amant.) i., 2032 j vii., 813.

2 C. T., E. 828.

3 viii., 211 ; xv., 271.

4 ii., 208 j iii., 952, in the form "nobillay."

THE KINGIS QUAIR

THE KINGIS QUAIR

AMENDED TEXT

TLT EIGH in the hevynnis figure circulere

The rody sterres twynklyng as the fyre,

And, in Aquary, Cynthia the clere

Rynsid hir tressis like the goldin wyre,
That lyte tofore, in fair and fresche atyre,

Through Capricorn heved hir hornis bright,

And north-north-west approchit the myd-nyght ;

ii

Quhen as I lay in bed allone, waking,
New partit out of slepe a lyte tofore,

Fell me to mynd of many diuerse thing,

Off this and that ; can I noght say quharfore,
Bot slepe for craft in erth myght I no more ;

For quhich as tho coude I no better wyle,

Bot toke a boke to rede apon a quhile :

in

Off quhich the name is clepit properly

Boece, eftere him that was the compiloure,

Schewing gude counsele of philosophye,
Compilit by that noble senatoure
Off Rome, quhilom that was the warldis floure,

And from estate by fortune so a quhile

Foriugit was to pouert in exile :

I. 2. Suggested reading " twinklyn," S. (twynklyt.)
I. 7. north-northeward, S. in note.
III. 3. the counsele, S. III. 6. estate, S. for a quhile, W,

THE KINGIS QUAIR

TEXT AS IN MANUSCRIPT

_

HEIGH In the hevynnis figure circulere
The rody sterres twynklyng as the fyre
And In Aquary Citherea the clere
Rynsid hir tressis like the goldin wyre
That late tofore in fair and fresche atyre
Through Capricorn heved hir hornis bright l
North northward approchit the myd nyght

(2)

Quhen as I lay In bed allone waking
New partit out of slepe alyte tofore
Fell me to mynd of many diu^rs* thing
Off this and that can I noght say quharrfor*
Bot slepe for craft in erth myght I no more
For quhich as tho coude I no better wyle
Bot toke a boke to rede apon a quhile

(3)

Off quhich the name Is clepit properly
Boece/'efter^ him J>#t was the compiloure
Schewing counsele of philosophye
Compilit by that noble senatoure
Off rome/'quhilom ]>at was the warldis floure
And from estate by fortune a quhile
Foriugit was to pouert/ in exile
3

THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

IV

And there to here this worthy lord and clerk,

His metir suete, full of moralitee ;
His flourit pen so fair he set a-werk,

Discryving first of his prosperitee,

And out of that his infelicitee ;
And than how he, in his poleyt report,
In philosophy can him to confort.

For quhich though I in purpose, at my boke,
To borowe a slepe at thilke tyme began,

Or euer I stent, my best was more to loke
Vpon the writing of this noble man,
That in him-self the full recouer wan

Off his infortune, pouert, and distresse,

And in tham set his verray sekernesse.

VI

And so the vertew of his ^outh before
Was in his age the ground of his delytis :

Fortune the bak him turnyt, and therefore
He makith ioye and confort, that he quit is
Off thir vnsekir warldis appetitis ;

And so aworth he takith his penance,

And of his vertew maid it suffisance :

VII

With mony a noble resoun, as him likit,
Enditing in his faire Latyne tong,

So full of fruyte, and rethorikly pykit,

Quhich to declare my scele is ouer ^ong ;
Therefore I lat him pas, and, in my tong,

Procede I will agayn to the sentence

Off my mater, and leue all incidence.

IV. 2. moralitee ! W. V. i. Though, S.

VI. 5. thir, S. VII. 2. faire, S.

VII. 5. song (?).

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS.

(4)

And there to here this worthy lord and clerk
His metir suete full of moralitee
His flourit pen so fair he set awerk
Discryving first of his prosperitee
And out of that his infelicitee
And than how he in his poetly report
In philosophy can him to confort

(5)

For quhich thoght I in purpose at my boke
To borowe a slepe at thilke tyme began
Or euer I stent my best was more to loke
Vpon the writing of this noble man
That in him self the full recou^r wan
Off his infortune pouerti and distress*
And in tham set his verray seforness*

(6)

And so the vertew of his south before
Was In his age the ground of his delytis
Fortune the bak him twrnyt. and therefore
He makith loye and confort yat he quitis
Off theirs vnsekir warldis appetitis
And so aworth he takith his penance
And of his vertew maid It suffisance

_

With mony a noble reso«n as him likit
Enditing in his fair* latyne tong
So full of fruyte and rethorly pykit
Quhich to declare my scole is ou*r $ong
Therefore I lat him pas and in my tong
Precede I will agayn to my sentence
Off my mater/*and leue all Incidence

(5) i in pouerti by later hand.

6 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

VIII

The longe" nyght beholding, as I saide,
Myn eyen gan to smert for studying ;

My buke I schet, and at my hede it laide ;
And doune I lay but ony tarying,
This matere new into my mynd rolling ;

This is to seyne, how that in eche estate,

As Fortune lykith, thame sche will translate.

IX

For sothe it is, that, on hir tolter quhele,
Euery wight cleuerith into his stage,

And failyng foting oft, quhen hir lest, rele
Sum vp, sum doune ; is non estate nor age
Ensured, more the prynce noght than the page :^

So vncouthly hir werdes sche deuidith,

Namly in south, that seildin ought prouidith.

x
Among thir thoughtis rolling to and fro,

Fell me to mynd of my fortune and vre,
In tender 5outh how sche was first my fo,
And eft my frende, and how I gat recure
Off my distresse, and all myn auenture
I gan oure-hayle ; that langer slepe ne rest
Ne myght I nat, so were my wittis wrest.

XI

For-wakit and for-walowit, thus musing,
Wery, forlyin, I lestnyt ; sodaynlye

And sone I herd the bell to matynnis ryng,
And vp I rase> no langer wald I lye :
Bot now, how trowe 56 ? suich a fantasye

Fell me to mynd, that ay me-thoght the bell

Said to me, " Tell on, man, quhat the befell."

V11I. i. The longe, S. VIII. 2. eyen, S.

VIII. 4. bot, S. VIII. 5. newe, S.

VIII. 6. seyne, S. seyen, W. VIII. 7. oft, S.

IX. 3, 4. lest rele, Sum vp, sum doune, S. ; punctuation in text, W. W.

IX. 5. prynce, S. no^t, W. W.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS.

(8)

The long nyght beholding as I saide
Myn eyne gan to smert for studying
My buke I schet/*and at my hede It laide
And doun I lay but ony tarying
This mater* new In my mynd rolling
This is to seyne how ]>at eche estate
As fortune lykith/thame will translate

(9)

For sothe It is ]>at on hir tolter quhele
Eu*ry wight cleu^rith In his stage
And failyng foting oft quhen hir lest rele
Sum vp/'sum doun • Is non estate nor age
Ensured more the prynce than the page
So vncouthly hir werdes sche deuidith
Namly In $outh • that seildin ought prouidith

(10)

Among thir thoughtis rolling to and fro
Fell me to mynd of my fortune and vre
In tender ^outh how sche was first my fo
And eft my frende/*and how I gat recure
Off my distresse and all myn auewture
I gan oure hzylefyat lang^r slepe ne rest
Ne myght I nat/'so were my wittis wrest

For wakit and forwalowit thus musing

Wery forlyin I lestnyt sodaynlye

And sone I herd the bell to matyns ryng

And vp I rase no lang^r wald I lye

Bot now how trowe 36 suich a fantasye

Fell me to mynd/']?rtt ay me thoght the bell

Said to me/'tell on maw quhat the befell

8 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

XII

Thoght I tho to my-self, " Quhat may this be ?
This is myn awin ymagynacioun ;

It is no lyf that spekis vnto me ;
It is a bell, or that impressioun
Off my thoght causith this illusioun,

That dooth me think so nycely in this wise ;"

And so befell as I schall 3011 deuise.

XIII

Determyt furth therewith in myn entent,
Sen I thus haue ymagynit of this soune,

And in my tyme more ink and paper spent
To lyte effect, I tuke conclusioun
Sum new thing for to write ; I set me doun,

And furth-with-all my pen in hand I tuke,

And maid a »}-, and thus begouth my buke.

XIV

'"PHOU tendir south, of nature indegest,
Vnrypit fruyte with wind is variable,
Like to the bird that fed is on the nest,

And can noght flee, of wit wayke and vnstable,
To fortune both and to infortune hable,
Wist thou thy payne to cum and thy trauaille,
For sorow and drede wele myght thou wepe and
waille.

xv

Thus stant thy confort in vnsekernesse,
And wantis it that suld the reule and gye :

Ryght as the schip that sailith stereles
Vpon the rokkis most to harmes hye,
For lak of it that suld bene hir supplye ;

So stand is thou here into this warldis rage,

And wantis that suld gyde all thy viage.

XIII. 5. newe, S. XIV. i. Thou sely, S.

XV. 4. rokkis, S. (most so to.)

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS.

(12)

Thoght I tho to my self quhat may this be

This is myn awin ymagynacioww

It is no lyf ]>at spek/V vnto me

It is a bell or that impressiown

Off my tho^/rt/'causith this Illusio«n

That dooth me think so nycely in this wis*

And so befell as I shall 3011 devise

(13)

Det^rmyt furth therew;t/i in myn entent
Sen I thus haue ymagynit of this soun
And in my tyme more Ink and pap^r spent
To lyte effect I tuke conclusiown
Sum new thing to write I set me doun
And furthw/t/j all my pen In hand I tuke
And maid a *j-/*and thus begouth my buke

*

(14)

Though ^outh of nature Indegest
Vnrypit fruyte with wind is variable
Like to the bird that fed is on the nest
And can no^t flee/*of wit wayke and vnstable
To fortune both and to infortune hable
Wist thou thy payne tocum/and thy trauaille
For sorow and drede wele myght thou wepe and
waille

(15)

Thus stant thy confort In vnsekerness*
And wantis It ]>at suld the reule and gye,
Ryght as the schip ]>at sailith stereles
Vpon the rok most to harmes hye
For lak of It j?#t suld bene hir supplye
So standis thou here In this warldis rage
And wantis ]>at suld gyde all thy viage

io THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

XVI

I mene this by my-self, as in partye ;

Though nature gave me suffisance in south,
The rypenesse of resoun lakkit I,

To gouerne with my will ; so lyte I couth,

Quhen stereles to trauaile I begouth,
Amang the wawis of this warld to driue ;
And how the case, anon I will discriue.

XVII

With doutfull hert, amang the rokkis blake,
My feble bote full fast to stere and rowe,

Helples, allone, the wynter nyght I wake,

To wayte the wynd that furthward suld me throwe.
O empti saile ! quhare is the wynd suld blowe

Me to the port, quhar gynneth all my game ?

Help, Calyope, and wynd, in Marye name !

XVIII

The rokkis clepe I the prolixitee

Off doubilnesse that doith my wittis pall :

The lak of wynd is the deficultee
In diting of this lytill trety small :
The bote I clepe the mater hole of all,

My wit also the saile that now I wynd

To seke connyng, though I bot lytill fynd.

XIX

At my begynnyng first I clepe and call

To 3ow, Cleo, and to $ow, Polymye,
With Thesiphone, goddis and sistris all,

In nowmer ix., as bokis specifye ;

In this processe my wilsum wittis gye ;
And with your bryght lanternis wele conuoye
My pen, to write my turment and my ioye !

XVI. 3. jit lak.it, S. rypfinesse of resoun laked I. W.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. n

(16)

I mene this by my self as In partye
Though nature gave me suffisance In ^outh
The rypeness* of resoun lak I
To gouerne with my will/'so lyte I couth
Quhen stereles to trauaile I begouth
Amang the wawis of this warld to driue
And how the cas^/anon I will discriue

(17)

With doutfull hert amang the rokk/V blake

My feble bote full fast to stere and rowe

Helples allone/the wynter nyght I wake

To wayte the wynd ]>at furthward suld me thro we

O empti saile quhare is the wynd suld blowe

Me to the port/quhar* gynweth all my game

Help Calyope and wynd in Marye name

(18)

The rokkis clepe I the prolixitee

Off doubilnesse : )?at doith my wittis pall

The lak of wynd is the deficultee

In enditing of this lytill trety small

The bote I clepe the mat<?r hole of all

My wit vnto the saile \a\. now I wynd

To seke conwyng/- though I bot lytill fynd

At my begynnyng first I clepe and call

To $ow Cleo and to ^ow polymye

With Thesiphone goddis and sistris all

In nowm^r ix*/as bok/j specifye

In this process* my wilsum wittis gye

And with jour bryght lant^rnis wele convoye

My pen • to write my twrment and my loye

12 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

xx

In vere that full of vertu is and gude,

Quhen Nature first begynneth hir enprise,

That quhilum was be cruell frost and flude
And schouris scharp opprest in many wyse,
And Cynthius begynneth to aryse

Heigh in the est, a morow soft and suete,

Vpward his course to driue in Ariete :

XXI

Passit mydday bot fotire greis evin,

Off lenth and brede his angel wingis bryght

He spred vpon the ground doune fro the hevin ;
That, for gladnesse and confort of the sight,
And with the tiklyng of his hete and light,

The tender flouris opnyt thame and sprad,

And, in thaire nature, thankit him forglad.

XXII

Noght fer passit the state of innocence,
Bot nere about the nowmer of 5eris thre ;

Were it causit throu hevinly influence
Off goddis will, or othir casualtee,
Can I noght say, bot out of my contree,

By thaire avise that had of me the cure,

Be see to pas, tuke I myn auenture.

XXIII

Puruait of all that was vs necessarye,

With wynd at will, vp airly by the morowe,

Streight vnto schip, no longere wold we tarye,
The way we tuke, the tyme I tald to-forowe ;
With mony " fare wele " and " Sanct lohne to
borowe "

Off falowe and frende ; and thus with one assent

We pullit vp saile, and furth oure wayis went.

XX. 5. be, S. 6, 7. point suete, Ariete, W.
XXI. i. foure", S. (mydway).

THE KINGIS QU AIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 13

(20)

In ver* \a\. full of vertu is/*and gude
Quhen nature first begywweth hir enpr/s*
That quhilum was be cruell frost and flude
And schoum scharp opprest In many wys*
And Synthiw* gynneth to aryse
Heigh in the est a morow soft and suete
Vpward his course to driue In ariete

(21)

Passit hot mydday four* greis evin

Offlenth and brede his angel wingis bryght

He spred vpon the ground doun fro the hevin

That for gladness* and Vfrcsohone56tf of the^sight v/// confort

And with the tiklyng of his hete and light

The tender flour/i opnyt thame and sprad

And in thair* nature thankit him for glad

(22)

No^/it fer passit the state of Innocence
Bot nere about the nowm*r of ^em thre
Were It causit throu hevinly Influence
Off goddis will/or othir casualtee
Can I noght say/'bot out of my contree
By thair* avis* \at had of me the cure
Be see to pas/'tuke I myn au*«ture

(23)

Puruait of all }>at was vs necessarye
With wynd at will vp airly by the morowe
Streight vnto schip no longer* wald we tarye
The way we tuke the tyme I tald toforowe
With mony farewele aW sanct lohne to borowe
Off falowe and frende/'and thus with one assent
We puilit vp saile/and furth our* wayis went

i4 THE KINGIS QU AIR— AMENDED TEXT

XXIV

Vpon the wawis weltering to and fro,
So infortunate was vs that fremyt day,

That maugre, playnly, quhethir we wold or no,
With strong hand and by forse, schortly to say,
Off inymyis takin and led away

We weren all, and broght in thaire contree ;

Fortune it schupe non othir wayis to be.

xxv

Quhare as in strayte ward and in strong prisoun,
So ferforth of my lyf the heuy lyne,

Without confort, in sorowe abandoune,
The secund sistere lukit hath to twyne,
Nere by the space of 3eris twies nyne ;

Till lupiter his merci list aduert,

And send confort in relesche of my smert.

XXVI

Quhare as in ward full oft I wold bewaille
My dedely lyf, full of peyne and penance,

Saing ryght thus, " Quhat haue I gilt to faille
My fredome in this warld and my plesance ?
Sen euery wight has thereof suffisance,

That I behold, and I a creature

Put from all this — hard is myn auenture !

xxvn

The bird, the beste, the fisch eke in the see,
They lyve in fredome euerich in his kynd ;

And I am man, and lakkith libertee ;

Quhat schall I seyne, quhat resoun may I fynd,
That Fortune suld do so ?" Thus in my mynd

My folk I wold argewe, bot all for noght ;

Was non that myght, that on my peynes rought.

XXIV. 4. as by forse, S. schortely, or for to say, W.
XXV. 5. twies, S.

THE KINGIS QU AIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 15

(24)

Vpon the wawis weltering to and fro

So infortunate was vs that fremyt day

That maugre playnly quhethir we wold or no

With strong hand by fors* schortly to say

Off Inymyis takin and led away

We weren all * and broght in thair* contree

Fortune It schupe non othir wayis to be

(25)

Quhare as In strayte ward and in strong pr/sown
So ferforth of my lyf the heuy lyne
Without confort in sorowe abandoun
The secund sistere lukit hath to twyne
Nere by the space of $eris twise nyne
Till lupiter his m^rci list aduert
And send confort in relesche of my smert

(26)

Quhare as In ward full oft I wold bewaille
My dedely lyf full of peyne and penance
Saing ryght thus/-quhat haue I gilt to faille
My fredome in this warld and my plesance
Sen eu^ry wyght has thereof suffisance
That I behold/'and I a creature
Put from all this • hard is myw au^wture

The bird the beste the fisch eke In the see
They lyve in fredome eumch In his kynd
And I a man and lakkith libertee
Quhat schall I seyne/*quhat resoun may I fynd
That fortune suld do so/'thus in my mynd
My follc I wold argewe/*bot all for no^At
Was non ]>at myght/-]>at on my peynes rought

16 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

XXVIII

Than wold I say, " Gif God me had deuisit
To lyve my lyf in thraldome thus and pyne,

Quhat was the cause that he me more comprisit
Than othir folk to lyve in suich ruyne ?
I suffer allone amang the figuris nyne,

Ane wofull wrecche that to no wight may spede,

And 3it of euery lyvis help hath nede."

XXIX

The longe* daye"s and the nyghtis eke
I wold bewaille my fortune in this wise,

For quhich, agane distresse confort to seke,
My custum was on mornis for to ryse
Airly as day ; O happy excercise !

By the come I to ioye out of turment.

Bot now to purpose of my first entent : —

xxx

Bewailing in my chamber thus allone,
Despeired of all ioye and remedye,

For-tirit of my thoght, and wo-begone,
Unto the wyndow gan I walk in hye,
To se the warld and folk that went forby.

As for the tyme, though I of mirthis fude

Myght haue no more, to luke it did me gude.

XXXI

Now was there maid fast by the touris wall
A gardyn faire, and in the corneris set

Ane herbere grene, with wandis long and small
Railit about ; and so with treis set
Was all the place, and hawthorn hegis knet,

That lyf was non y-walking there forby,

That myght within scarse ony wight aspye.

XXVIII. 3. me, S. XXIX. i. longe, S.

XXXI. 3. grene. With etc., W. 6. y-walking, S. in Introduction to
K. £>., p. xxxiii, walkings, W.

THE KINGIS QU AIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 17

(28)

Than wold I say gif god me had deuisit

To lyve my lyf in thraldome thus/and pyne

Quhat was the caus* ]>at he more comprisit

Than othir folk/to lyve in suich ruyne

I suffer allone amang the figum nyne

Ane wofull wrecche \at to no wight may spede

And $it of eu*ry lyvis help in dredo* hath nede

(29)

The long dayes and the nyghtis eke
I wold bewaille my fortune in this wis*
For quhich agane distress* confort to seke
My custum was on mornis for to rys*
Airly as day/*o happy exercise
By the come I to loye out of twrment
Bot now to purpose of my first entent

(3°)

Bewailing In my chamber thus allone
Despeired of all loye and remedye
For tirit of my thoght/and wo begone
And to the wyndow gan I walk In hye
To se the warld and folk ]>at went forby
As for the tyme/'though I of mirthis fude
Myght haue no more/' to luke It did me gude

Now was there maid fast by the touris wall

A gardyn fair* and in the corner/* set

Ane herber* grene w/'t/» wandis long and small

Rail it about/and so with treis set

Was all the place/'and hawthorn hegis knet

That lyf was non walking there forby

That myght v/ith'm scars* ony wight aspye

* In drede is lightly stroked through.

1 8 THE KINGIS QU AIR— AMENDED TEXT

XXXII

So thik the bewis and the leues grene
Beschadit all the aleyes that there were,

And myddis euery herbere myght be sene
The scharpe grene suete ienepere,
Growing so faire with branchis here and there,

That, as it semyt to a lyf without,

The bewis spred the herbere all about ;

XXXIII

And on the smalg greng twistis sat

The lytill suetg nyghtingale, and song

So loud and clere the ympnis consecrat
Off lufis vse, now soft, now lowd among,
That all the gardyng and the wallis rong

Ryght of thaire song, and, in the copill next,

Off thaire suete armony, and lo the text :

xxxiv
[CANTUS]

" Worschippeth, 56 that loueris bene, this May,
For of your blisse the kalendis are begonne,

And sing with vs, away, Winter, away !

Cum, Somer, cum, the suete sesoun and sonne !
Awake for schame ! that haue 3our hevynnis wonne,

And amorously lift vp }our hedis all,

Thank Lufe that list ^ou to his merci call."

xxxv

Quhen thai this song had song a lytill thrawe,
Thai stent a quhile, and therewith vnaffraid,

As I beheld and kest myn eyne a-lawe,

From beugh to beugh thay hippit and thai plaid,
And freschly in thaire bird is kynd arraid

Thaire fetheris new, and fret thame in the sonne,

And thankit Lufe, that had thaire makis wonne.

XXXII. 4. scharpe, S.

XXXIII. i. smalle, S. 2. (nightingales). 6. For on S. suggests of, but does

not put of\n. text.

XXXIV. i. worschippeth, S. in Notes. XXXV. 7. (thai had, etc.).

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 19

(32)

So thik the bowis and the leues grene
Beschadit all the aleyes )?0t there were
And myddis eu*ry herber* myght be sene
The scharp grene suete lenepere
Growing so fain? with branchis here and there
That as It semyt to a lyf without
The bewis spred the herber* all about

(33)

And on the small grene twistis sat
The lytill suete nyghtingale and song
So loud and clere the ympnis consecrat
Off lufis vs^/'now soft/*now lowd among
That all the gardyng and the wallis rong
Ryght of thair* song-and on the copill next
Off thain? suete armony and lo the text

(34)

Worschippe ^e ]>at louem bene this may
For of ^ottr bliss<? the kalendis ar begonne
And sing with vs away winter away
Cum som^r cum/'the suete sesouw and sonne
Awake for schame j?#t haue $owr hevywnis wonne
And amorously lift vp }O#r hedis all
Thank lufe }>at list ^OM to his m^rci call

(35)

Quhen thai this song had song a lytill thrawe
Thai stent a quhile/'and therewith vnafrraid
As I beheld and kest myn eyne a lawe
From beugh to beugh thay hippit aW thai plaid
And freschly in thair* birdis kynd arraid
Thair* fether/V new/*and fret thame In the sonne
And thankit lufe ]>at had thair* mak/V wonne

20 THE KINGIS QU AIR— AMENDED TEXT

XXXVI

This was the plane ditee of thaire note,
And there-with-all vnto my-self I thoght,

" Quhat lyf is this, that makis birdis dote ?

Quhat may this be, how cummyth it of ought ?
Quhat nedith it to be so dere ybought ?

It is nothing, trowe I, bot feynit chere,

And that men list to counterfeten chere."

XXXVII

Eft wald I think ; " O Lord, quhat may this be ?

That Lufe is of so noble myght and kynde,
Lufing his folk, and suich prosperitee

Is it of him, as we in bukis fynd ?

May he oure hertes setten and vnbynd ?
Hath he vpon oure hertis suich maistrye ?
Or is all this bot feynyt fantasye ?

XXXVIII

For gif he be of so grete excellence,

That he of euery wight hath cure and charge,

Quhat haue I gilt to him or doon offense,
That I am thrall, and birdis gone at large,
Sen him to serue he myght set my corage ?

And gif he be noght so, than may 1 seyne,

Quhat makis folk to iangill of him in veyne ?

xxxix

Can I noght elles fynd, bot gif that he

Be lord, and as a god may lyue and regne,

To bynd and louse, and maken thrallis free ?
Than wold I pray his blisfull grace benigne,
To hable me vnto his seruice digne,

And euermore for to be one of tho

Him trewly for to serue in wele and wo.

XXXVII. 5. (knetten). 7. Is all this ? W.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 21

(36)

This was the plane ditee of thairv note
And therew/t/;all vnto my self I thoght
Quhat lyf is this/j?flt mak/j birdis dote
Quhat may this be/*how cummyth It of ought
Quhat nedith It tobe so dere ybought
It is nothing trowe I'bot feynit chere
And ]>at mew list to count^rfeten chere

(37)

Eft wald I think'o lord quhat may this be
That lufe is of so noble myght and kynde
Lufing his folk/and suich prosperitee
Is It of hinvas we in buk/j fynd
May he our*- hertis setten and vnbynd
Hath he vpon oure hertis suich maistrye
Or all this is bot feynit fantasye

(38)

For gif he be of so grete excellence
That he of eu^ry wight hath cure and charge
Quhat haue I gilt to him/'or doon offense
That I am thrall and birdis gone at large
Sen him to s^rue he myght set my corage
And gif he be noght so/*than may I seyne
Quhat mak/j folk to langill of him In veyne

(39)

Can I noght elles fynd bot gif ]>at he
Be lord/and and as a god may lyue and regne
To bynd and lous* and maken thrallis free
Than wald I pray his blisful grace benigne
To hable me vnto his s^ruice digne
And eu^rmore for to be one of tho
Him trewly for to smie In wele and wo

22 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

XL

And there-with kest I doune myn eye ageyne,
Quhare as I sawe, walking vnder the toure,

Full secretly, new cummyn hir to pleyne,
The fairest and the freschest 3onge floure
That euer I sawe, me-thoght, before that houre ;

For quhich sodayn abate anon astert

The blude of all my body to my hert.
•

XLI

And though I stude abaisit tho a lyte,

No wonder was ; for quhy, my wittis all

Were so ouercome with plesance and delyte,
Onely throu latting of myn eyen fall,
That sudaynly my hert became hir thrall

For euer, of free wyll ; for of manace

There was no takyn in hir suete face.

XLII

And in my hede I drewe ryght hastily,
And eft-sones I lent it forth ageyne,

And sawe hir walk, that verray womanly,

With no wight mo, bot onely wommen tueyne.
Than gan I studye in my-self, and seyne :

" A ! suete, ar 36 a warldly creature,

Or hevinly thing in liknesse of nature ?

XLIII

Or ar ^e god Cupidis owin princesse,

And cummyn are to louse me out of band ?

Or ar $e verray Nature, the goddesse,

That haue depayntit with $our hevinly hand
This gardyn full of flouris, as they stand ?

Quhat sail I think, allace ! quhat reuerence

Sail I minister to ^our excellence ?

XL. 4. 3ong6, S.
XLIII. 7. minister, S.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 23

_

And therewith kest I doun myn eye ageyne
Quhare as I sawe walking vnd^r the toure
Full secretly new cummyn hir to pleyne
The fairest/or the freschest ^ong floure
That euer I sawe/me thq^At before that houre
For quhich sodayn abate anon astert
The blude of all my body to my hert

And though I stude abaisit tho alyte
No wonder was-for quhy my wittis all
Were so ou^rcom with plesance and delyte
Onely thro« latting of myn eyen fall
That sudaynly my hert became hir thrall
For eu*r of free wyll for of manace
There was no takyn in hir suete face

(42)

And In my hede I drewe ryght hastily
And eft sones I lent It forth ageyne
And sawe hir walk that verray womawly
With no wight mo'bot only wommen tueyne
Than gan * gan I studye in my self and seyne
A suete ar 36 a warldly creature
Or hevinly thing in likness* of nature

(43)

Or ar 36 god Cupidis owin pr/ncesse
And cuwmyn arf to lous* me out of band
Or ar 36 verray nature the goddess*
That haue depaynted with $our hevinly hand
This gardyn full of floum as thay stand
Quhat sail I think allace quhat reu^rence
Sail I m/»st*r to jour excellence

* Written and stroked through.

24 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

XLIV

Gif 36 a goddesse be, and that 36 like
To do me payne, I may it noght astert ;

Gif 36 be warldly wight, that dooth me sike,
Quhy lest God mak 3011 so, my derest hert,
To do a sely prisoner thus smert, /

That lufis 3ow all, and wote of noght bot wo ?

And therefore, merci, suete ! sen it is so."

XLV

Quhen I a lytill thrawe had maid my moon,
Bewailling myn infortune and my chance, N

Vnknawin how or quhat was best to doon,
So ferre I fallyng was into lufis dance,
That sodeynly my wit, my contenance,

My hert, my will, my nature, and my mynd,

Was changit clene ryght in an-othir kynd.

XLVI

Off hir array the form gif I sail write
Toward hir goldin haire and rich atyre,

It fret-wise couchit was with perllis quhite
And grete balas lemyng as the fyre,
With mony ane emeraut and faire saphyre ;

And on hir hede a chaplet fresch of hewe,

Off plumys partit rede, and quhite, and blewe ;

XLVII

And full of quaking spangis bryght as gold,
Forgit of schap like to the amorettis,

So new, so fresch, so plesant to behold,
The plumys eke like to the floure-ionettis,
And othir of schap like to the violettis,

And, aboue all this, there was, wele I wote,

Beautee eneuch to mak a world to dote.

XLV. 4. so ferre I fallyng was in, W. W. XLVI. 3. was, S.

XLVII. i. quakinge", W. 5. schap like to the round crokettis, S.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 25

(44)

Gif 36 a goddesse be'and }>at 36 like
To do me payne/'I may It noght astert
Gif 36 be warldly wight }>at dooth me sike
Quhy lest god mak 3011 so my derest hert
To do a sely prisoner thus smert
That lufis 3ow all/-and wote of noght hot wo
And therefore m^rci suete sen It is so

Quhen I a lytill thrawe had maid my moon
Bewailing my« infortune and my chance
Vnknawin how/or quhat was best to doon
So fer I fallyng Into lufis dance
That sodeynly my wit/my contenance
My hert my will'/my nature and my mynd
Was changit clene ryght In an othir kynd

(46)

Off hir array the form gif I sail write
Toward hir goldin hain? and rich atyre
In fret wis* couchit with perllis quhite
And grete balas lemyng as the fyre
W/t/f mony ane emeraut and fair^ saphyre
And on hir hede a chaplet fresch of hewe
Off plumys partit rede and quhite and blewe

(47)

Full of quaking spangis bryght as gold
Forgit of schap like to the amorett/5
So new so fresch so plesant to behold
The plumys eke like to the flours lonett/j
And othir of schap like to the floun? lonett/j
And aboue all this/'there was wele I wote
Beautee eneuch to mak a world to dote

26 THE KINGIS QU AIR— AMENDED TEXT

XLVIII

About hir nek, quhite as the fyre amaille,

A gudely cheyne of smale orfeuerye,
Quhareby there hang a ruby, without faille,

Lyke to ane hert y-schapin verily,

That, as a sperk of lowe, so wantonely
Semyt birnyng vpon hir quhyte throte ;
Now gif there was gud party e, God it wote !

XLIX

And for to walk that fresche Mayes morowe,
An huke sche had vpon hir tissew quhite,

That gudeliare had noght bene sene toforowe,
As I suppose ; and girt sche was a lyte,
Thus halflyng louse for haste ; lo ! suich delyte

It was to see hir ^outh in gudelihede,

That for rudenes to speke thereof I drede.

L

In hir was ^outh, beautee, with humble aport,
Bountee, richesse, and wommanly facture,

(God better wote than my pen can report)
Wisedome, largesse, estate, and connyng sure.
In euery poynt so guydit hir mesure

In word, in dede, in schap, in contenance,

That nature myght no more hir childe auance.

LI

Throw quhich anon I knew and vnderstude
Wele that sche was a warldly creature,

On quhom to rest myn eye, so mich gude
It did my wofull hert, I 3ow assure,
That it was to me ioye without mesure ;

And, at the last, my luke vnto the hevin

I threwe furthwith, and said thir versis sevin :

XLVIII. i. (fyne). 4. herte, S. XLIX. 5. of suich delyte, S. in notes.

L. 3, 4, 5. pointing as in W. W. ; S. points "report : sure In euery

poynt . . . measure,"
LI. 3. (myn eye, so mekill gude.)

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 27

(48)

About hir neck quhite as the fyre amaille
A gudely cheyne of smale orfeuerye
Quhaivby there hang a ruby without faille
Lyke to ane hert schapin verily
That as a sperk of lowe so wantonly
Semyt birnyng vpon hir quhyte throte
Now gif there was gud p^rtye god It wote

(49)

And for to walk that fresche mayes morowe
An huke sche had vpon hir tissew quhite
That gudeliar* had noght bene sene toforowe
As I suppos^/'and girt sche was alyte
Thus halflyng louse for haste to suich delyte
It was to see hir ^outh In gudelihede
That for rudenes to speke thereof I drede

(50)

In hir was ^outh beautee with humble aport
Bountee richess* and worn wanly facture
God better wote than my pen can report
Wisedome largess* estate and connyng sure
In eu*ry poynt/so guydit hir mesure
In word in dede in schap in contenance
That nature myght no more hir childe auance

(50

Throw quhich anon I knew and vnd^rstude
Wele/'fat sche was a warldly creature
On quhom to rest myw eye/*so mich gude
It did my wofull hert/*I ^ow assure
That It was to me loye without mesure
And at the last my luke vnto the hevin
I threwe furthwith/'and said thir versis sevin

28 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

LII

" O Venus clere ! of goddis stellifyit !
To quhom I 3elde homage and sacrifise,

Fro this day forth ^our grace be magnify it,
That me ressauit haue into suich wise,
To lyve vnder ^our law and do seruise ;

Now help me furth, and for your merci lede

My hert to rest, that deis nere for drede."

LIII

Quhen I with gude entent this orisoun
Thus endit had, I stynt a lytill stound ;

And eft myn eye full pitously adoune
I kest, behalding vnto hir lytill hound,
That with his bellis playit on the ground ;

Than wold I say, and sigh there-with a lyte,

" A ! wele were him that now were in thy plyte !"

LIV

An-othir quhile the lytill nyghtingale,
That sat apon the twiggis, wold I chide,

And say ryght thus, " Quhare are thy notis smale,
That thou of loue has song this morowe-tyde ?
Seis thou noght hire that sittis the besyde ?

For Venus sake, the blisfull goddesse clere,

Sing on agane, and mak my lady chere.

LV
And eke I pray, for all the paynes grete,

That, for the loue of Proigne thy sister dere,
Thou sufferit quhilom, quhen thy brestis wete
Were, with the teres of thyne eyen clere,
All bludy ronne ; that pitee was to here
The crueltee of that vnknyghtly dede,
Quhare was fro the bereft thy maidenhede,

LII. 4. a wise, S. LIII. 4. to hir, S. Introd., p. xxxviii.

LV. 7. (Quhan.)

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS.

(52)

0 venus clere of goddis stellifyit

To quhom I 3elde homage and sacrifis*
Fro this day forth ^owr grace be magnifyit
That me ressauit haue in suich wise
To lyve vnd^r your law/*and do smiis*
Now help me furth/*and for 3owr m^rci lede
My hert to rest/|?rft deis nere for drede

(53)

Quhen I with gude entent this orisouw
Thus endit had/'I stynt a lytill stound
And eft my« eye full pitously adoun

1 kest/'behalding vnto hir lytill hound
That with his bellis playit on the ground
Than wold I say/'and sigh therewith a lyte
A wele were him Ipat now were In thy plyte

(54)

An othir quhile the lytill nyghtingale

That sat apon the twiggis wold I chide

And say ryght thus/'*quhare ar* thy notis smale

That thou of loue has song this morowe tyde

Seis thou noght hire ]>at sittis the besyde

For venus sake the blisfull goddesse clere

Sing on agane/and mak my lady chere

($5)

And eke I pray for all the paynes grete
That for the loue of proigne thy sister dere
Thou sufferit quhilom quhen thy brestis wete
Were with the teres of thyne eyen clere
All bludy ronne \a\. pitee was to here
The crueltee of that vnknyg^tly dede
Quhare was fro the bereft thy maidenhede

* This marking is very faint.

3o THE KINGIS QU AIR— AMENDED TEXT

LVI

Lift vp thyne hert, and sing with gude entent ;

And in thy notis suete the tresoun telle,
That to thy sister trewe and innocent

Was kythit by hir husband false and fell ;

For quhois gilt, as it is worthy wel,
Chideth thir husbandis that are false, I say,
And bid thame mend, in twenty deuil way.

LVII

0 lytill wrecch, allace ! maist thou noght se

Quho commyth ^ond ? Is it now tyme to wring ?
Quhat sory thoght is fallin vpon the ?

Opyn thy throte ; hastow no lest to sing ?

Allace ! sen thou of resoun had felyng,
Now, suete bird, say ones to me * pepe ' :

1 dee for wo ; me think thou gynnis slepe.

LVIII

Hastow no mynde of lufe ? Quhare is thy make ?
Or artow seke, or smyt with ielousye ?

Or is sche dede, or hath sche the forsake ?
Quhat is the cause of thy malancolye,
That thou no more list maken melodye ?

Sluggart, for schame ! lo here thy goldin houre,

That worth were hale all thy lyvis laboure !

LIX

Gyf thou suld sing wele euer in thy lyve,

Here is, in fay, the tyme, and eke the space :

Quhat wostow than ? sum bird may cum and stryve
In song with the, the maistry to purchace.
Suld thou than cesse, it were grete schame, allace !

And here to wyn gree happily for euer,

Here is the tyme to syng, or ellis neuer."

LVI. 7. a twenty deuil, S. in notes. LIX. 7. (Now is.)

THE KINGIS QU AIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 31

(56)

Lift vp thyne hert/*and sing with gude entent
And in thy no* notis suete the tresoww telle
That to thy sister trewe and Innocent
Was kythit by hir husband fals* and fell
For quhois gilt/'as It is worthy wel
Chide thir husbandis ]>at are false I say
And bid thame mend in the xx*J deuil way

(57)

0 lytill wrecch allace maist thou noght se
Quho coramyth ^ond/'Is It now tyme to wring
Quhat sory tho^t is fallin vpon the

Opyn thy throte hastow no lest to sing
Allace sen thou of resoww had felyng
Now suete bird say ones to me pepe

1 dee for wo/*me think thou gy/mis slepe

(58)

Hastow no mynde of lufe/'quhare is thy make
Or artow seke/*or smyt with lelousye
Or Is sche dede or hath sche the forsake
Quhat is the caus* of thy malancolye
That thou no more list maken melodye
Sluggart for schame lo here thy goldin hour*
That worth were hale all thy lyvis laboure

(59)

Gyf thou suld sing wele eu^r in thy lyve
Here is in fay the tyme and eke the space
Quhat wostow than sum bird may cum and stryve
In song with the/*the maistry to pwrchace
Suld thou than cesse/'It were grete schame allace
And here to wyn gree happily for eu*r
Here is the tyme to syng/' or ellis neu^r

* Written and stroked through.

32 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

LX

I thoght eke thus, gif I my handis clap,
Or gif I cast, than will sche flee away ;

And gif I hald my pes, than will sche nap ;
And gif I crye, sche wate noght quhat I say :
Thus, quhat is best, wate I noght be this day :

Bot, blawe wynd, blawe, and do the leuis schake,

That sum twig may wag, and mak hir to wake.

LXI

With that anon ryght sche toke vp a sang
Quhare come anon mo birdis and alight ;

Bot than to here the mirth was thame amang !
Ouer that to, to see the suete sicht
Off hyr ymage ! my spirit was so light

Me-thoght I flawe for ioye without arest,

So were my wittis boundin all to fest.

LXII
And to the notis of the philomene,

Quhilkis sche sang, the ditee there I maid
Direct to hire that was my hertis quene,

Withoutin quhom no songis may me glade ;

And to that sanct, walking into the schade,
My bedis thus, with humble hert entere,
Deuotely I said on this manere :

LXI1I

" Quhen sail 3our merci rew vpon ^our man,
Quhois seruice is ^it vncouth vnto 3ou ?

Sen, quhen 36 go, ther is noght ellis than.

Bot, * Hert ! quhere as the body may noght throu,
Folow thy hevin ! Quho suld be glad bot thou

That suich a gyde to folow has vndertake ?

Were it throu hell, the way thou noght forsake !' "

LX. 7. (Sum twig may wag, and mak hir to awake).
LXI. i. sche, S. Pointing in 3, 4, 5, W. W.
LXII. 5. there, S. 7. Deuotly than, S. (deuoitly). (Rycht deuotly).

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 33

(60)

I thoght eke thus gif I my handis clap
Or gif I cast/'than will sche flee away
And gif I hald me pes/*than will sche nap
And gif I crye/-sche wate noght quhat I say
Thus quhat is best/wate I noght be this day
Bot blawe wynd blawe/and do the leuis schake
That sum twig may wag/'and mak hir to wake

(61)

With that anon rygbt he toke vp a sang
Quhare com anon mo birdis and alight
Bot than to here the mirth was thaw amang
Ouer that to/'to see the suete sicht
Off hyr ymage/-my spirit was so light
Me thoght I flawe for loye without arest
So were my wittis boundin all to fest

(62)

And to the notis of the philomene
Quhilk/V sche sang/'the ditee there I maid
Direct to hin? ]>at was my hertis quene
Withoutin quhom no songis may me glade
And to that sanct walking in the schade
My bedis thus with humble hert entere
Deuotly I said on this manere

(63)

Quhen sail $owr m^rci rew vpon }o«r man
Quhois s^ruice is }it vncouth vnto ^ow
Sen quhen 36 go/*ther* is noght ellis than
Bot hert quhere as the body may noght throu
Folow thy hevin/*quho suld be glad/bot thou
That suich a gyde to folow has vnd^rtake
Were It throu hell the way thou noght forsake

9

34 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

LXIV

And efter this the birdis euerichone

Tuke vp an-othir sang full loud and clere,

And with a voce said, " Wele is vs begone,
That with oure makis are togider here ;
We proyne and play without dout and dangere,

All cloth it in a soyte full fresch and newe,

In lufis seruice besy, glad, and trewe.

LXV

And 36, fresche May, ay mercifull to briddis,
Now welcum be ^e, floure of monethis all ;

For noght onely $our grace vpon vs byddis,
Bot all the warld to witnes this we call,
That strowit hath so playnly ouer all

With newe, fresche, suete and tender grene,

Oure lyf, oure lust, oure gouernoure, oure quene."

LXVI

This was thair song, as semyt me full heye,
With full mony vncouth suete note and schill,

And therewith-all that faire vpward hir eye
Wold cast amang, as it was Goddis will,
Quhare I myght se, standing allane full still,

The fair facture that nature, for maistrye,

In hir visage wroght had full lufmgly.

LXVII

And, quhen sche walkit had a lytill thrawe

Vnder the suete grene bewis bent,
Hir faire fresche face, as quhite as ony snawe,

Scho turnyt has, and furth hir wayis went.

Bot tho began myn axis and turment
To sene hir part ; and folowe I na myght :
Me-thoght the day was turnyt into nyght.

LXV. 6. newe, S. LXVI. 2. (With mony uncouth suete.)

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 35

(64)

And eft*r this the biidis eu*richone
Tuke vp an othir sang full loud and clere
And with a voce said wele is vs begone
That with our* makis ar togid*r here
We proyne and play/*w/t/jout dout and dangere
All clothit in a soyte full fresche and newe
In lufis smiice/besy glad and trewe

(65)

And $e fresche may ay m*rcifull to bridis
Now welcum be 36 flour* of monethis all
For noght onely $our grace vpon vs bydis
Bot all the warld to witnes this we call
That strowit hath so playnly ou*r all
With new fresche suete and tender grene
Oure lyf/oure lust/'oure gou*rnour* cure quene

(66)

This was thair song as semyt me full heye
With full mony vncouth suete note aW schill
And therewith all that fair* vpward hir eye
Wold cast amang/*as It was goddis will
Quhare I myght se standing allane full still
The fair* factur* ]>at nature for maistrye
In hir visage vrroght had full lufingly

(6?) .

And quhen sche walkit had a lytill thrawe
Vnd*r the suete grene bewis bent
Hir faire fresche face as quhite as ony snawe
Scho twrnyt has/*and furth hir wayis went
Bot tho began my« axis and turment
To sene hir part/'and folowe I na myght
Me thoght the day was twrnyt into nyght

36 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

LXVIII

Than said I thus, " Quhare-vnto lyve I langer ?

Wofullest wicht, and subject vnto peyne !
Of peyne ? no ! God wote, $a : for thay no stranger

May wirken ony wight, I dare wele seyne.

How may this be, that deth and lyf, bothe tueyne,
Sail bothe atonis in a creature
Togidder duell, and turment thus nature ?

LXIX

I may noght ellis done bot wepe and waile,
With-in thir calde wallis thus i-lokin ;

From hennesfurth my rest is my trauaile,
My drye thrist with teris sail I slokin,
And on my-self bene al my harmys wrokin :

Thus bute is none ; bot Venus, of hir grace,

Will schape remede, or do my spirit pace.

LXX

As Tantalus I trauaile, ay but-les,

That euer ylike hailith at the well
Water to draw with buket botemles,

And may noght spede ; quhois penance is an hell :

So be my-self this tale I may wele tell :
For vnto hir that herith noght I pleyne ;

Thus like to him my trauaile is in veyne."

LXXI

So sore thus sighit I with my-self allone,
That turnyt is my strenth in febilnesse,

My wele in wo, my frendis all in fone,
My lyf in deth, my lyght into dirknesse,
My hope in feere, in dout my sekirnesse,

Sen sche is gone : and God mote hir conuoye,

That me may gyde to turment and to ioye !

LXVIII. i. Quhare-unto, S. LXIX. 2. calde, S. 3. hennesfurth, S.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 37

(68)

Than said I thus/'quhareto lyve I lang^r

Wofullest wicht/and subiect vnto peyne

Of peyne no god wote ^a'for thay no stranger

May wirken ony wight/I dar* wele seyne

How may this be/*j>0t deth and lyf bothe tueyne

Sail bothe atonis in a creature

Togidd^r duell and twrment thus nature

(69)

I may noght ellis done/bot wepe and waile
Within thir cald wallis thus I lokin
From henwsfurth my rest is my trauaile
My drye thrist with tern sail I slokin
And on my self bene all my harmys wrokin
Thus bute is none/'bot venwj of hir grace
Will schape remede/'or do my spirit pace

(7°)

As Tantalus I trauaile ay but les
That eu*r ylike hailith at the well
Water to draw with buket botemles
And may noght spede/quhois penance is an hell
So by myself this tale I may wele telle
For vnto hir Ipat herith noght I pleyne
Thus like to him my trauaile Is Inveyne

So sore thus sighit I with my self allone
That twrnyt is my strenth In febilness*
My wele in wo/my frendis all in fone
My lyf in deth/my \yght into derkness*
My hope in feer^/'in dout my sekirness*
Sen sche is gone/'and god mote hir conuoye
That me may gyde to twrment/aW to loye

38 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

LXXII

The long day thus gan I to prye and poure,
Till Phebus endit had his bemes bryght,

And bad go farewele euery lef and floure,
This is to say, approchen gan the nyght,
And Esperus his lampis gan to light ;

Quhen in the wyndow, still as any stone,

I bade at lenth, and, kneling, maid my mone

LXXIII

So lang till evin, for lak of myght and mynd,

For-wepit and for-pleynit pitously.
Ourset so sorow had bothe hert and mynd,

That to the colde stone my hede on wrye

I laid, and lent, amaisit verily,
Half sleping and half suoun, in suich a wise :
And quhat I met, I will 3011 now deuise.

LXXIV

Me-thoght that thus all sodeynly a lyght
In at the wyndow come quhare that I lent,

Off quhich the chambere- wyndow schone full bryght,
And all my body so it hath ouerwent,
That of my sicht the vertew hale iblent ;

And therewith-all a voce vnto me saide,

" I bring confort and hele, be noght affrayde."

LXXV
And furth anon it passit sodeynly,

Quher^ it come in, the ryghte way ageyne ;
And sone, me-thoght, furth at the dure in hye

I went my weye, nas nothing me ageyne.

And hastily, by bothe the armes tueyne,
I was araisit vp in-to the aire,
Clippit in a cloude of cristall clere and faire,

LXXII. i. longe, S. 2. (I-hid). 4. approchen, S. 7. mone. S. points thus.
LXXIII. i, 2. evin, for lak etc. . . . pitously, S. points thus : pointing in

text, W. W. 4. colde, S.

LXXIV. 3. chambere (wallis). 5. it blent, W. 7. I bring confort, W.
LXXV. 2. ryghte, S. 7. faire. S. ; faire, W. W.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 39

(72)

The long day thus gan I prye and pour*
Till phebus endit had his bemes bryght
And bad go farewele euery If* lef and floure
This is to say/*approch gan the nyght
And Esperus his lampis gan to light
Quhen in the wyndow still as any stone
I bade at lenth/*and kneling maid my mone

(73)

So lang till evin for lak of myght and mynd
Forwepit/and forpleynit pitously
Ourset so/sorow had bothe hert wid mynd
That to the cold stone my hede on wrye
I laid/'and lent amaisit verily
Half sleping/and half suoun In suich a wis*
And quhat I met I will $ou now deuis/?

(74)

Me thoght ]>at thus all sodeynly a \yght
In at the wyndow come quhare ]>at I lent
Off quhich the chamber* wyndow schone full

bryght

And all my body so It hath ou*rwent
That of my sicht the v*rtew hale Iblent
And that w/t/tall a voce vnto me saide
I bring the confort and hele/be noght affrayde

(75)

And furth anon It passit sodeynly
Quher* It come Inthe ryght way ageyne
And sone me tboght furth at the dure in hye
I went my weye/'nas nothing me ageyne
And hastily by bothe the armes tueyne
I was araisit vp in to the air*
Clippit in a cloude of cristall clere and fair*

* So written in MS.

40 THE KINGIS QU AIR— AMENDED TEXT

LXXVI

Ascending vpward ay fro spere to spere,

Through aire and watere and the hote" fyre,

Till that I come vnto the circle clere

Off Signifere, quhare fai're, bryght, and schire,
The signis schone ; and in the glade empire

Off blissfull Venus, quhar ane cryit " Now "

So sudaynly, almost I wist noght how.

LXXVII

Of quhich the palace, quhen I com there a-nye,
Was all, me-thoght, of cristall stonis wroght,

And to the port I liftit was in hye,

Quhare sodaynly, as quho sais, at a thoght,
It opnyt, and I was anon in broght

Within a chamber, large, and rowm, and faire ;

And there I fand of peple grete repaire.

LXXVIII

This is to seyne, that present in that place
Me-thoght I sawe of euery nacioun

Loueris that endit had thaire lyfis space
In lovis seruice, mony a mylioun,
Off quhois chancis maid is mencioun

In diuerse bukis, quho thame list to se ;

And therefore here thaire namys lat I be.

LXXIX
The quhois auenture and grete labouris

Aboue thaire hedis writin there I fand ;
This is to seyne, martris and confessouris,

Ech in his stage, and his make in his hand ;

And therewith-all thir peple sawe I stand,
W ith mony a solempnit contenance,
After as Lufe thame lykit to auance.

LXXVI. 6. quhar, S. —now, S.
LXXVII. i. quhenas, S. place, W. 4. sais, W. W.
LXXVIII. 3. endit had, S.

LXXIX. 6. solempnit, S. j solempne, W.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 41

(76)

Ascending vpward ay fro spere to spere
Through air* and waters and the hote fyre
Till j?0t I come vnto the circle clere
OfFSignifer* quhare fair* bryght and schire
The signis schone/'and in the glade empire
Off blisfull venwj/ane cryit now
So sudaynly /almost I wist noght how

(77)

Offquhich the place quhen I com there nye
Was all'me thoghtf-of cristall stonis
And to the port I liftit was In hye
Quhare sodaynly/*as quho sais at a
It opnyt/*and I was anon In broght
Within a chamber large rowm and fair*
And there I fand of peple grete repair*

(78)

This is to seyne/'j?0t present in that place
Me thoght I sawe of eu^ry nacioww
Louer/V ]>at endit thair* lyfis space
In lovis smiice/'mony a mylioun
Off quhois chanc/'j maid is mewciouw
In diu*rs* buk/V quho thame list to se
And therefor* here thair* namys lat I be

(79)

The quhois aue«tur* and grete labour/;
Aboue thair* hedis writin there I fand
This is to seyne martris and confessour/V
Ech in his stage and his make in his hand
And ther*w/t/;all/thir peple sawe I stand
W/t/t mony a solempt contenance
After as lufe thame lykit Had* to auance

* A very faint attempted stroking out of had.

42 THE KINGIS QU AIR— AMENDED TEXT

LXXX

Offgudg folkis, that faire in lufe befill,
There saw I sitt in order by thame one

With hedis hore ; and with thame stude Gude-will
To talk and play. And after that anon
Besyde thame and next there saw I gone

Curage, amang the fresche folkis ^ong,

And with thame playit full merily and song.

LXXXI

And in ane-othir stage, endlong the wall,
There saw I stand, in capis wyde and lang,

A full grete nowmer ; hot thaire hudis all,
Wist I noght quhy, atoure their eygn hang ;
And ay to thame come Repentance amang,

And maid thame chere, degysit in his wede :

And dounward efter that ^it I tuke hede.

LXXXII

Ryght ouerthwert the chamber was there drawe
A trevesse thin and quhite, all of plesance,

The quhich behynde, standing, there I sawe
A warld of folk, and by thaire contenance
Thaire hertis semyt full of displesance,

With billis in thaire handis, of one assent

Vnto the iuge thaire playntis to present.

LXXXIII

And there-with-all apperit vnto me

A voce, and said, " Tak hede, man, and behold :
3ond there thou seis the hiest stage and gree

Off agit folk, with hedis hore and olde ;

3one were the folke that neuer change wold
In lufe, bot trewly seruit him alway,
In euery age, vnto thaire ending-day.

LXXX. 5. Besydis, S.

LXXXII. 3. behynde, W. W. ; y-standing, S. in Introd., p. xxxiii.
LXXXIII. 3. 5onder thou seis, S. ; }ond there, W. 5. change, S.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 43

(80)

Off gude folk/j }>at fare In lufe befill

There saw I sitt in order by thame one

With hedis hore/.and with thame stude gude will

To talk and play/*and aft*r that anon

Besyde thame/*and next there saw I gone

Curage amang the fresche folk/'j $ong

And with thame playit full merily and song

(81)

And In ane othir stage endlong the wall
There saw I stand in capis wyde and lang
A full grete nowmer/bot thair* hudis all
Wist I noght quhy/atour* thair eyen hang
And ay to thame come repentance amang
And maid thame chere degysit in his wede
And dounward eft*r that/^it I tuke hede

(82)

Ry^/rt ou*rthwert the chamber was there drawe
A trevess* thin and quhite all of plesance
The quhich behynd standing there I sawe
A warld of folk/'an^ by theire contenance
Thair* hertis semyt full of displesance
With billis in thair* handis of one assent
Vnto the luge thair* playntis to present

(83)

And therew/t/jall/apperit vnto me

A voce/**and said tak hede man/aW behold

3ond*r there thou seis the hiest stage and gree

Off agit folk with hedis hore and olde

3one were the folke ]>at neu*r change wold

In lufe bot trewly spruit him alway

In eu*ry age vnto thair* ending day

* Very faint.

44 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

LXXXIV

For fro the tyme that thai coud vnderstand
The exercise, of lufis craft the cure,

Was none on lyve that toke so moch on hand
For lufis sake, nor langer did endure
In lufis seruice ; for, man, I the assure,

Quhen thay of ^outh ressauit had the fill,

3it in thaire age thame lakkit no gude will.

LXXXV

Here bene also of suich as in counsailis
And all thare dedis, were to Venus trewe ;

Here bene the princis, faucht the grete batailis,
In mynd of quhom ar maid the bukis newe,
Here bene the poetis that the sciencis knewe,

Throwout the warld, of lufe in thaire suete layes,

Suich as Guide and Omere in thaire dayes.

LXXXVI

And efter thame adown in the next stage,
There as thou seis the ^onge folkis pleye :

Lo ! thise were thay that, in thaire myddill age,
Seruandis were to Lufe in mony weye,
And happinnit diuersely for to deye ;

Sum soroufully, for wanting of thare makis,

And sum in armes for thaire ladyes sakis.

LXXXVII

And othir eke by othir diuerse chance,

As happin folk all day, as ^e may se ;
Sum for dispaire, without recouerance ;

Sum for desyre, surmounting thaire degree ;

Sum for dispite and othir inmytee ;
Sum for vnkyndenes without a <juhy,
Sum for to moch, and sum for ielousye.

LXXXVI. i. nexte, S. j *. pnge, S. LXXXVII. 2. (happinis).

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 45

(84)

For fro the tyme ]>at thai coud vnd^rstand
The exercise of lufis craft the cure
Was non on lyve j?#t toke so moch on hand
For lufis sake/-nor lang*r did endure
In lufis s^ruice/for man I the assure
Quhen thay of jouth ressauit had the fill
3it in thair* age tham lakkit no gude will

(85)

Here bene also of suich as In counsailis
And all than? dedis were to venus trewe
Here bene the princis faucht the grete batailis
In mynd of quhom ar maid the buk/s newe
Here ben the poetis ]>at the scienc/'-f knewe
Throwout the warld*of lufe in thair^ suete layes
Suich as Ouide and Omer^ in thair* dayes

(86)

And efter thame down In the next stage
There as thou seis the $ong folk/* pleye
lo this* were thay \a\. in thain? myddill age
Seruandis were to lufe in mony weye
And diu^rsHy happinnit for to deye
Sum soroufully for wanting of thar* mak/V
And sum in armes for thair* ladyes sak/V

(87)

And othir eke by othir diu^rs* chance
As happin folk all day as 36 may se
Sum for dispair* without recou^rance
Sum for desyre surmounting thair* degree
Sum for dispite/and othir Inmytee
Sum for vnkyndenes without a quhy
Sum for to moch and sum for lelousye

46 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

LX XXVIII

And efter this, vpon ^one stage adoun,
Tho that thou seis stond in capis wyde ;

3one were quhilum folk of religioun,

That from the warld thaire gouernance did hide,
And frely seruit lufe on euery syde

In secrete, with thaire bodyis and thaire gudis.

And lo ! quhy so thai hingen doun thaire hudis :

LXXXIX

For though that thai were hardy at assay,
And did him seruice quhilum priuely,
3it to the warldis eye it semyt nay ;

So was thaire seruice halflyng cowardy :
And for thay first forsuke him opynly,
And efter that thereof had repenting,
For schame thaire hudis oure thaire eyne thay hyng.

xc

And seis thou now ^one multitude, on rawe
Standing, behynd ^one trauerse of delyte ?

Sum bene of thame that haldin were full lawe,
And take by frendis, nothing thay to wyte,
In ^outh from lufe into the cloistere quite ;

And for that cause are cummyn, recounsilit,

On thame to pleyne that so thame had begilit.

xci

And othir bene amongis thame also,

That cummyn ar to court, on Lufe to pleyne,

For he thaire bodyes had bestowit so,

Quhare bothe thaire hertes gruchit ther-ageyne ;
For quhich, in all thaire dayes, soth to seyne,

Quhen othir lyvit in ioye arid in plesance,

Thaire lyf was noght bot care and repentance ;

LXXXVIII. i. adoun, S. stage, W.
LXXXIX. 4. halfdel, S. ; seruice, W.

XCI. 4. gruchen, S. ; gruche, W. ; gruchit, E. T. 6. in, S.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 47

(88)

And cfter this vpon 30116 stage doun

Tho ]>at thou seis stond in capis wyde

3one were quhilum folk of religioun

That from the warld thair* gou^rnance did hide

And frely spruit lufe on euery syde

In secrete with thain? bodyis and thain? gudis

And lo*quhy so/'thai hingen doun thain? hudis

(89)

For though ]>at thai were hardy at assay

And did him smiice quhilum praiely

3 it to the warldis eye It semyt nay

So was thain? s^ruice half cowardy

And for thay first forsuke him opynly

And efter that/'thereof had repenting

For schame thain? hudis oun? thain? eyne thay hyng

(9°)

And seis thou now }one multitude on rawe
Standing behynd }one trauers* of delyte
Sum bene of tham ]>at haldin were full lawe
And tak by frendis/'nothing thay to wyte
In ^outh from lufe Into the cloister* quite
And for that caus* an? cu;wmy« recounsilit
On thame to pleyne \at so tham had begilit

(90

And othir bene amongis thame also

That cu/wmyn an? to court on lufe to pleyne

For he thain? bodyes had bestowit so

Quhare bothe thair* hertes gruch then? ageyne

For quhich In all thair* dayes soth to seyne

Quhen othir lyvit In loye and plesance

Thain? lyf was noght bot care and repentance

48 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

xcn
And quhare thaire hertis gevin were and set,

Were coplit with othir that coud noght accord ;
Thus were thai wrangit that did no forfet,

Departing thame that neuer wold discord."

Off ^onge ladies faire and mony lord,
That thus by maistry were fro thair chose dryve,
Full redy were thaire playntis there to gyve.

XCIII

And othir also I sawe compleynyng there

Vpon Fortune and hir grete variance,
That, quhere in loue so wele they coplit were,

With thaire suete makis coplit in plesance,

So sodeynly maid thaire disseuerance,
And tuke thame of this warldis companye,
Withoutin cause, there was none othir quhy.

xciv

And in a chiere of estate besyde,

With wingis bright, all plumyt, bot his face,

There sawe I sitt the blynde god Cupide,
With bow in hand, that bent full redy was,
And by him hang thre arowis in a cas,

Off quhich the hedis grundyn were full ryght,

Off diuerse metals forgit faire and bryght.

xcv
And with the first, that hedit is of gold,

He smytis soft, and that has esy cure ;
The secund was of siluer, mony-fold

Wers than the first, and harder auenture ;

The thrid, of stele, is schot without recure ;
And on his long and $alow lokkis schene
A chaplet had he all of levis grene.

XCII. 2. S. omits initial "Were." 4. discord," W. W. 5. $onge, S.
XCIII. 4. (iunyt). 5. Sche, S. j So, W. W.
XCIV. 3. blynde, S. XCV. 6. longe', S.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 49

(92)

And quhare thai™ hertis gev/'w wer^and set
Were coplit w/t/2 othir ]>at coud noght accord
Thus were thai wrangit \a\. did no forfet
Departing thame ]?flt neu^r wold discord
Off^ong ladies fair* and mony lord
That thus by maistry were fro thair chos* dryve
Full- redy were/thai^ playntis there to gyve

(93)

And othir also I sawe compleyning there
Vpon fortune and hir grete variance
That quhere in loue so wele they coplit were
W/'t/j thair* suete mak/j coplit in plesance
So sodeynly maid thai™ disseu^rance
And tuke thame of this warldis companye
W/t^outin caus^/'there was non othir quhy

(94)

And in a chien? of estate besyde
With wingis bright/all plumyt/bot his face
There sawe I sitt the blynd god Cupide
With bow in hand ]>at bent full redy was
And by him hang thre arowis In a cas
Offquhich the hedis gruwdyn were full ryght
Off diu^rse metals forgit fair* and bryght

(95)

And with the first \a\. hedit is of gold
He smytis soft and that has esy cure
The secund was of silu^r many fold
Wers than the first and harder auewture
The thrid of stele is schot without recure
And on his long ^alow lokk/j schene
A chaplet had he all of levis grene

10

50 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

XCVI

And in a retrete lytill of compas,

Depeyntit all with sighis wonder sad,
Noght suich sighis as hertis doith manace,

Bot suich as dooth lufaris to be glad,

Fond I Venus vpon hir bed, that had
A mantill cast ouer hir schuldris quhite :

Thus clothit was the goddesse of delyte.

xcvn

Stude at the dure Fair-Calling, hir vschere,
That coude his office doon in connyng wise,

And Secretee, hir thrifty chamberere,
That besy was in tyme to do seruise,
And othir mo I can noght on avise,

And on hir hede, of rede rosis full suete,

A chapellet sche had, faire, fresch, and mete.

xcvm

With quaking hert astonate of that sight,
Vnnethis wist I quhat that I suld seyne ;

Bot, at the last, febily, as I myght,

With my handis on bothe my kneis tueyne,
There I begouth my caris to compleyne ;

And with ane humble and lamentable chere

Thus salute I that goddesse bryght and clere :

xcix

" Hye Quene of Lufe ! sterre of beneuolence !
Pitouse princes, and planet merciable !

Appesare of malice and violence !

By vertew pure of ^our aspectis hable,
Vnto ^oure grace lat now bene acceptable

My pure request, that can no forthir gone

To seken help, bot vnto }ow allone !

XCVII. 5. S., in note, suggests " mo I can noght on avise " j W., " mo that

I can noght avise."
XCVIII. 3. laste, S.

THE KINGIS QU AIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 51

(96)

And In a retrete lytill of compas
Depeyntit all w/t/; sighis wonder sad
Noght suich sighis as hertis doith manace
Bot suich as dooth lufar/j to be glad
Fond I venus vpon hir bed ]>at had
A mantill cast ou*r hir schuldris quhite
Thus clothit was the goddesse of delyte

(97)

Stude at the dure fair calling hir vschere
That coude his office doon In conwyng wis*
And secretee hir thrifty chamberere
That besy was in tyme to do s*ruis*
And othir mo j?0t I can noght on avis*
And on hir hede of rede rosis full suete
A chapellet sche had fair* fresch and mete

(98)

With quaking hert astonate of that sight

Vnnethis wist I quhat ]>at I suld seyne

Bot at the last febily as I myght

With my handis on bothe my ban kneis tueyne

There I begouth my cam to compleyne

With ane humble and lamentable chere

Thus salute I that goddess* bryght and clere

(99)

Hye quene of lufe/'sterr* of beneuolence
Pitous* princes and planet m*rciable
Appesar* of malice and violence
By vertew pur* of your aspectis hable
Vnto 3our* grace lat now ben acceptable
My pur* request ]>at can no forth ir gone
To seken help bot vnto }ow allone

52 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

As }e that bene the socoure and suete well
Off remedye, of carefull hertes cure,

And, in the huge weltering wawis fell
OrFlufis rage, blisfull havin and sure ;
O anker and keye of our gude auenture,

3e haue ^our man with his gude-will conquest.

Merci, therefore, and bring his hert to rest !

Ci

Be knaw the cause of all my peynes smert
Bet than my-self, and all myn auenture

3e may conuoye, and as }ow list, conuert
The hardest hert that formyt hath nature :
Sen in ^our handis all hale lyith my cure,

Haue pitee now, O bryght blisfull goddesse,

Off 3our pure man, and rew on his distresse !

en

And though I was vnto ^our lawis strange,
By ignorance, and noght by felonye,

And that ^our grace now likit hath to change
My hert, to seruen $ow perpetualye,
Forgeue all this, and schapith remedye

To sauen me of ^our benigne grace,

Or do me steruen furth-with in this place.

cm

And with the stremes of ^our percyng lyght
Conuoy my hert, that is so wo-begone,

Ageyne vnto that suete hevinly sight,
That I, within the wallis cald as stone,
So suetly saw on morow walk and gone,

Law in the gardyn, ryght tofore myn eye :

Now, merci, Quene ! and do me noght to deye."

C. 4. rage, W. W.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 53

(i oo)

As $e )?flt bene the socour* and suete well

Off remedye of carefull hertis cure

And in the huge weltering wawis fell

Off lufis rage blisfull havin and sure

O ank*r and keye of our* gude auewture

3e haue ^our man with his gude will conquest

Merci therefor* and bring his hert to rest

(101)

3e knaw the caus* of all my peynes smert
Bet than my self/*and all myn auewture
3e may conuoye and as ^ow list conu*rt
The hardest hert ]>at formyt hath nature
Sen in ^our handis all hale lyith my cure
Haue pitee now • o bryght blisfull goddess*
Off 3owr pur* man/'and rew on his distress*

(102)

And though I was vnto $owr lawis strange

By ignorance/'and noght by felonye

And ]>at your grace now likit hath to change

My hert/to s*ruen ^ow p*rpetualye

Forgeue all this/'and schapith remedye

To sauen me of ^owr benigne grace

Or do me steruen forthwith in this place

And with the stremes of $our percyng lyght
Conuoy my hert ]>at is so wo begone
Ageyne vnto that suete hevinly sight
That I within the wallis cald as stone
So suetly saw on morow walk and gone
Law in the gardyn ryght tofore myn eye
Now m*rci quene/'and do me noght to deye

54 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

civ

Thir wordis said, my spirit in dispaire,
A quhile I stynt, abiding efter grace :

And there-with-all hir cristall eyen faire
Sche kest asyde, and efter that a space,
Benigngly sche turnyt has hir face

Towardis me full plesantly conueide ;

And vnto me ryght in this wise sche seide :

cv
" 3ong man, the cause of all thyne inward sorowe

Is noght vnknawin to my deite,
And thy request, bothe now and eke toforowe,

Quhen thou first maid professioun to me ;

Sen of my grace I haue inspirit the
To knawe my lawe, contynew furth, for oft,
There as I mynt full sore, I smyte bot soft.

cvi

Paciently thou tak thyne auenture,

This will my sone Cupide, and so will I,

He can the stroke, to me langis the cure
Quhen I se tyme, and therefor humily
Abyde, and serue, and lat Gude-Hope the gye :

Bot, for I haue thy fairhede here present,

I will the schewe the more of myn entent.

cvn
This is to say, though it to me pertene

In lufis lawe the septre to gouerne,
That the effectis of my bemes schene
Has thaire aspectis by ordynance eterne,
With otheris byndand, menys to discerne
Quhilum in thingis bothe to cum and gone
That langis noght to me to writh allone,

CIV. 4. Sche, S.
CVII. 5. bunden menes, S., suggestion in notes ; bynding, W.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 55

('04)

Thir wordis said'/my spirit in dispair*
A quhile I stynt abiding efttr grace
And therew/t/iall hir cristall eyen fair*
Me kest asyde/*and efter that a space
Benignely sche twrnyt has hir face
Towardis me full plesantly conueide
And vnto me ryght in this wis* sche seide

(105)

3ong man the caus* of all thyne Inward sorow*

Is noght vnknawin to my deite

And thy request bothe now and eke toforowe

Quhen thou first maid professiozm to me

Sen of my grace I haue inspirit the

To knawe my lawe/contynew furth/for oft

There as I mynt full sore/I smyte £±H bot soft

(106)

Paciently thou tak thyne auewture
This will my son Cupide and so will I
He can the stroke to me lang/V the cure
Quhen I se tyme and therefor* huily*
Abyde and s^rue and lat gude hope the gye
Bot for I haue thy for^hede here present
I will the schewe the more of myn entent

(107)

This is to say/'though It to me p^rtene
In lufis lawe the septre to gou^rne
That the effect/; of my bemes schene
Has thai™ aspect/5 by ordynance eterne
With othen'j bynd aW mynes to discerne
Quhilum in thingis bothe to cum and gone
That langis no^t to me to writh allone

* The scribe gives i an upward turn 5>, and omits the stroke above a to
signify um.

56 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

CVIII

As in thyne awin case now may thou se ;

For-quhy ? lo, that of otheris influence
Thy persone standis noght in libertee ;

Quharefore, though I geve the beneuolence,

It standis noght ^it in myn aduertence,
Till certeyne coursis endit be and ronne,
Quhill of trew seruis thow have hir i-wonne.

cix

And ^it, considering the nakitnesse

Bothe of thy wit, thy persone, and thy myght,

It is no mach, of thyne vnworthynesse,

To hir hie birth, estate, and beautee bryght :
Als like ye bene, as day is to the nyght ;

Or sek-cloth is vnto fyne cremesye ;

Or doken foule onto the fresche dayesye.

ex
Vnlike the mone is to the sonne schene,

Eke lanuarye is vnlike vnto May ;
Vnlike the cukkow to the phylomene,

Thaire tabartis ar noght bothe maid of array ;

Vnlike the crow is to the pape-iay,
Vnlike, in goldsmythis werk, a fischis eye
To prese with peril, or maked be so heye.

CXI

As I haue said, $it vnto me belangith

Specialy the cure of thy seknesse ;
Bot now thy matere so in balance hangith,

That it requerith, to thy sekernesse,

The help of othir mo that bene goddes,
And haue in thame the menes and the lore
In this matere to schorten with thy sore.

CVIII. 2. by otheris, S. ; that others, W. 7. S. notes, Introd., p. 2, the
attempted deletion of "graice," but retains it in text, thinking
scribe changed his mind.

CIX. 7. doken to the fresche, S. As in text, W.

CX. 2. vnlike to, S. j 4, 5. Transposition of these lines would effect
improvement. 4. S. suggests omission of maid. W. reads of an
ray. 7. To peire with, S.
CXI. i . now vnto, S.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 57

(108)

As in thyne awin cas* now may thou se

For quhy lo'jmt other/* Influence

Thy persone standis noght in lib^rtee

Quharefor* though I geve the beneuolence

It standis noght }it In my« adu^rtence

Till certeyne cours/J endit be aW ronne

Quhill of trew smiis thow have hir grace I wone

(109)

And }it considering the nakitness*
Bothe of thy wit/*thy persone and thy myght
It is no mach of thyne vnworthyness*
To hir hie birth/estate/and beautee bryght
Als like ^e bene/'as day is to the nyght
Or sek cloth is vnto fyne cremesye

foule on*
Or doken to* the fresche dayesye

(no)

Vnlike the mone Is to the sonne schene
Eke lanuarye is like vnto may
Vnlike the cukkow to the phylomene
Thair* tabartis ar noght bothe maid of array
Vnlike the crow is to the pape lay
Vnlike in goldsmythis werk a fischis eye
To ptfrese with perll/'or maked be so heye

(in)

As I haue said • vnto me belangith
Specialy the cure of thy sekness*
Bot now thy mater* so in balance hangith
That It requerith to thy sek^rness*
The help of othir mo/than bene goddes
And haue in thame the menes and the lore
In this mater* to schorten w/t/j/'thy sore

* So written in MS.

58 THE KINGIS QU AIR— AMENDED TEXT

cxn

And for thou sail se wele that I entend
Vn-to thy help, thy welefare to preserue,

The streightg weye thy spirit will I send
To the goddesse that clepit is Mynerue,
And se that thou hir hestis wele conserue,

For in this case sche may be thy supplye,

And put thy hert in rest, als wele as I.

cxni

Bot, for the way is vncouth vnto the,
There as hir duelling is and hir soiurne,

I will that Gude-Hope seruand to the be,
3oure alleris frend, to lat the noght to murn,
Be thy condyt and gyde till thou returne,

And hir besech that sche will, in thy nede,

Hir counsele geve to thy welefare and spede,

cxiv

And that sche will, as langith hir office,
Be thy gude lady, help and counseiloure,

And to the schewe hir rype and gude auise,

Throw quhich thou may, be processe and laboure,
Atteyne vnto that glad and goldyn floure,

That thou wald haue so fayn with all thy hart.

And forthir-more, sen thou hir seruand art,

cxv

Quhen thou descendis douh to ground ageyne,
Say to the men that there bene resident,

How long think thay to stand in my disdeyne,
That in my lawis bene so negligent
From day to day, and list thame noght repent,

Bot breken louse, and walken at thaire large ?

Is nocht eft non that thereof gevis charge ?

CXII. 3. streighte, S. CXIII. 4. to lette, S.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 59

(112)

And for thou sail se wele ]>at I entend
Vnto thy help thy welefare to preserve
The streight weye thy spirit will I send
To the goddess* ]>at clepit is mynmie
And se ]>at thou hir hestis wele construe
For in this cas* sche may be thy supplye
And put thy hert in rest als wele as I

Bot for the way is vncouth vnto the
There as hir duelling is/-and hir soiurne
I will j?tft gud hope s*ruand to the be
3oure allenV frend to let the to murn
Be thy condyt and gyde/'till thou returne
And hir besech j?0t sche will in thy nede
Hir counsele geve to thy welefare and spede

And ]>at sche will/as langith hir office
Be thy gude lady/'help and counseilour*
And to the schewe hir rype and gude auis*
Throw quhich thou may be process* and labour*
Atteyne vnto that glad and goldyn flour*
That thou wald haue so fayn with all thy hart
And forthir more sen thou hir s*ruand art

("5)

Quhen thou descendis doun to ground ageyne

Say to the men ]>at there bene resident

How long think thay to stand in my disdeyne

That in my lawis bene so negligent

From day to day/-and list thain noght repent

breken
Bot broken- lous* and walken at thair* large

t none
Is non eft }>at thereof gevis charge

6o THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

CXVI

And for," quod sche, " the angir and the smert
Off thaire vnkyndenesse dooth me constreyne,

My femynyne and wofull tender hert,

That than I wepe ; and, to a token pleyne,
As of my teris cummyth all this reyne,

That 36 se on the ground so fast ybete

Fro day to day, my turment is so grete.

cxvn

And quhen I wepe, and stynt anothir quhile,
For pacience that is in womanhede,

Than all my wrath and rancoure I exile ;
And of my cristall teris that bene schede,
The hony flouris growen vp and sprede,

That preyen men, into thaire flouris wise,

Be trewe of lufe, and worschip my seruise.

CXVIII

And eke, in takin of this pitouse tale,

Quhen so my teris dropen on the ground,

In thaire nature the lytill birdis smale

Styntith thaire song, and murnyth for that stound,
And all the lightis in the hevin round

Off my greuance haue suich compacience,

That from the ground they hiden thaire presence.

cxix

And }it in tokenyng forthir of this thing,

Quhen flouris springis, and freschest bene of hewe,

And that the birdis on the twistis sing,
At thilke" tyme ay gynnen folk renewe
That seruis vnto loue, as ay is dewe,

Most commozmly haue thay his obseruance,

And of thaire sleuth tofore haue repentance.

CXVII. i. S. follows MS. and reads stynten j an othir, W. ; 6. as in, S. j

ryght in, W.
CXIX. 4. folk renewe, S. 6. Most commonly haue his obseruance, W.

THE KINGIS QU AIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 61

(116)

And for quod sche/the angir and the smert
Off thaiiv vnkyndeness*? dooth me constreyne
My femynyne and wofull tender hert
That than I wepe/and to a token pleyne
As of my tern cutfzmyth all this reyne
That $e se on the ground so fast ybete
Fro day to day/-my torment is so grete

("7)

And quhen I wepe/and stynten othir quhile
For pacience ]>at is in womawhede
Than all my wrath and rancour* I exile
And of my cristall ten; \a\. bene schede
The hony flour/; growen vp aw^ sprede
That preyen mew in thai™ flour/; wis/?
Be trewe of lufe/and worschip my

(118)

And eke In takin of this pitous* tale

Quhen so my tern dropen on the ground

In thai™ nature the lytill birdis smale

Styntith thai™ song and mwrnyth for that stound

And all the lightis In the hevin round

Off my greuance/haue suich compacience

That from the ground they hi den thai™ presence

And }it In tokenyng forthir of this thing
Quhen flour/; springis and freschest bene of hewe
And )?tft the birdis on the twistis sing
At thilke tyme ay gywnen folk to renewe
That s^ruis vnto loue/*as ay is dewe
Most commounly has ay his obs^ruance
And of thair* sleuth tofore haue repentance

62 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

cxx

Thus maist thou sene that myn effectis grete,
Vnto the quhich ^e aught and most obeye,

No lyte offense, to sleuth is al forget :

And therefore in this wise to thame seye,
As I the here haue bidden, and conueye

The matere all the better tofore said ;

Thus sail on the my charges bene ilaid.

CXXI

Say on than, c Quhare is becummyn, for schame !
The songis new, the fresch carolis and dance,

The lusty lyf, the mony change of game,
The fresche array, the lusty contenance,
The besy awayte, the hertly obseruance,

That quhilum was amongis thame so ryf ?

Bid thame repent in tyme, and mend thare lyf:

CXXII

Or I sail, with my fader old Saturne,

And with al hale cure hevinly alliance,
Oure glad aspectis from thame writh and turne,

That all the warld sail waile thaire gouernance.

Bid thame be tyme that thai haue repentance,
And with thaire hertis hale renew my lawe ;
And I my hand fro beting sail withdrawe.

CXXIII

This is to say, contynew in my seruise,

Worschip my law, and my name magnifye,

That am your hevin and your paradise ;
And I your confort here sail multiplye,
And, for your meryt here, perpetualye

Ressaue I sail your saulis of my grace,

To lyve with me as goddis in this place.' J!

\CXX. 2. aughten maist weye, S. j aught and most obeye, W. W. ; 3. is al

forget, S. 5. bidden, S. 7. charge, S.
CXXII. 6. with, S.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 63

(120)

Thus maist thou seyne ]>at myn effect/* grete
Vnto the quhich }e aught and maist weye
No lyte offens* to sleuth is forget
And then-for* In this wis* to tham seye
As I the here haue bid/*and conueye
The mater* all the better tofor* said
Thus sail on the my charge bene Ilaid

(121)

Say on than'quhare Is becu^zmyn for schame
The songis newthe fresch carolis and dance
The lusty lyf/the mony change of game
The fresche array/'the lusty contenance
The besy awayte/*the hertly obsmiance
That quhilum was amongis thame so ryf
Bid tham repent in tyme and mend thair* lyf

(122)

Or I sail with my fad^r old Saturne

And with al hale cure hevinly alliance

Our* glad aspect/V from thame writh and turne

That all the warld sail waile thaire gou^rnance

Bid thame be tyme ]>at thai haue repentance

And thair* hertis hale renew my lawe

And I my hand fro beting sail w/t/jdrawe

(123)

This is to say/*contynew in my s/ruis*
Worschip my law/'and my name magnify*
That am $our hevin and $our paradis*
And I 3owr confort here sail multiplye
And for $our meryt here p*rpetualye
Ressaue I sail $our saulis of my grace
To lyve with me as goddis In this place

64 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

CXXIV

With humble thank, and all the reuerence
That feble wit and connyng may atteyne,

I tuke my leue ; and from hir presence,
Gude-Hope and I to-gider, bothe tueyne,
Departit are, and, schortly for to seyne,

He hath me led the redy wayis ryght

Vnto Mineruis palace, faire and bryght.

cxxv

Quhare as I fand, full redy at the ^ate,
The maister portare, callit Pacience,

That frely lete vs in, vnquestionate ;

And there we sawe the perfyte excellence,
The said renewe, the state, the reuerence,

The strenth, the beautee, and the ordour digne

Off hir court riall, noble and benigne.

cxxvi

And straught vnto the presence sodeynly
Off dame Minerue, the pacient goddesse,

Gude-Hope my gyde has led me redily ;

To quhom anon with dredefull humylnesse,
Off my cummyng the cause I gan expresse,

And all the processe hole, vnto the end,

Off Venus charge, as likit hir to send.

CXXVII

Offquhich ryght thus hir ansuere was in bref :
" My sone, I haue wele herd, and vnderstond,

Be thy reherse, the matere of thy gref,
And thy request to procure, and to fonde
Off thy pennance sum confort at my hond,

Be counsele of thy lady Venus clere,

To be with hir thyne help in this matere.

CXXIV. 3. hy presence, S. j leue, W. W. 6. the, S.
CXXV. 5. (facture newe). CXXVI. 3. gyde, S. ; hath led, W.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 65

(124)

With humble thank and all the reu*rence
That feble wit/and connyng may atteyne
I tuke my leue and from hir presence
Gude hope and I to gid*r bothe tueyne
Departit are and schortly for to seyne
He hath me led redy wayis ryght
Vnto Mineruis palace fair* and bryght

Quhare as I fand full redy at the $ate

The maist*r portar* callit pacience

That frely lete vs in vnquestionate

And there we sawe the p*rfyte excellence

The said renewe/the state the reu*rence

The strenth the beautee and the ordoar digne

Off hir court riall/'noble * and benigne

And straught vnto the presence sodeynly
Off dame Min*rue the pacient goddess*
Gude hope my gyde led me redily
To quhom anon with dredefull humylness*
Off my cuwmyng the caus* I gan expresse
And all the process* hole vnto the end
Off vcnus charge as likit hir to send

(127)

Off quhich ryght thus hir ansuer* was in bref
My son I haue wele herd and vnd*rstond
Be thy rehers* the mater* of thy gref
And thy request to procur* and to fond*
Off thy pennance sum confort at my hond
Be counsele of thy lady venus clere
To be wVtA hir thyne help In this matere

* Here in MS. three marks (not letters) .-. are stroked through.

66 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

CXXVIII

Bot in this case thou sail wele knawe and witt,
Thou may thy hert grounden on suich a wise,

That thy laboure will be hot lytill quit ;
And thou may set it in anothir wise,
That wil be to the grete worschip and prise ;

And gif thou durst vnto that way enclyne,

I will the geve my lore and disciplyne.

cxxix

Lo, my gude sone, this is als mich to seyne,
As, gif thy lufe be sett all-uterly

Of nycg lust, thy trauail is in veyne ;
And so the end sail turne of thy folye
To payne and repentance ; lo, wate thou quhy ?

Gif the ne list thy lufe on vertew set,

Vertu sail be the cause of thy forfet.

cxxx

Tak Him before in all thy gouernance,
That in His hand the stere has of you all ;

And pray vnto His hyg purueyance

Thy lufe to gye, and on Him traist and call,
That corner-stone and ground is of the wall,

That failis noght ; and trust, withoutin drede,

Vnto thy purpose sone He sail the lede.

cxxxi
For lo, the werk that first is foundit sure,

May better bere a pace and hyare be
Than othir-wise, and langere sail endure

Be monyfald, this may thy resoun see,

And stronger to defend aduersitee :
Groundith thy werk, therefore, vpon the stone,
And thy desire sail forthward with the gone.

CXXVIII. 2. herte, S. 4. anothir, S.
CXXIX. 2. "be" accidentally omitted, S. 3. On nyce, W. 6. thy lufe

on, W. W.
CXXXI. 6. Ground thou, S.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS.

(128)

Bot in this case thou sail wele knawe and witt
Thou may thy hert ground on suich a wisf
That thy labour* will be bot lytill quit
And thou may set It In othir wis*
That wil be to the grete worschip and pris*
And gif thou durst vnto that way enclyne
I will the geve my lore and disciplyne

Lo my gude sone this Is als mich to seyne

As gif thy lufe be sett allut^rly

Of nyce lust/'thy trauail is in veyne

And so the end sail turne of thy folye

To payne/'and rep^wtance/'lo wate thou quhy

Gif the ne list on lufe thy v^rtew set

Vertu sal be the caus* of thy forfet

(13°)

Tak him before in all thy gou^rnance
That in his hand the stere has of }ou all
And pray vnto his hye p«rueyance
Thy lufe to gye/and on him traist and call
That corner stone and grownd is of the wall
That failis noght/'and trust w/t^outin drede
Vnto thy purpose sone he sail the lede

For lo the werk ]>at first Is foundit sure
May better bere a pace and hyar* be
Than othir wis* and langer* sail endure
Be monyfald/'this may thy resou« see
And stronger to defend aduersitee
Ground thy werk therefor* vpon the stone
And thy desire sail forthward w/t/2 the gone

68 THE KINGIS QU AIR— AMENDED TEXT

CXXXII

Be trewe, and meke, and stedfast in thy thoght,

And diligent hir merci to procure,
Noght onely in thy word ; for word is noght,

Bot gif thy werk and all thy besy cure

Accord thereto and vtrid be ; mesure
The place, the houre, the maner, and the wise,
Gif mercy sail admitten thy seruise.

CXXXIII

All thing has tyme, thus sais Ecclesiaste ;

And wele is him that his tyme wel abit.
Abyde thy time, for he that can bot haste

Can noght of hap, the wise man it writ ;

And oft gude fortune flourith with gude wit :
Quharefore, gif thou will be wele fortunyt,
Lat wisedome ay to thy will be iunyt.

cxxxiv

Bot there be mony of so brukill sort,

That feynis treuth in lufe bot for a quhile,

And setten all thaire wittis and disport
The sely innocent woman to begyle,
And so to wynne thaire lustis with a wile ;

Suich feynit treuth is all bot trechorye,

Vnder the vmbre of hid ypocrisye.

cxxxv
For as the foulere quhistlith in his throte

Diuersely, to counterfete the brid,
And feynis mony a suete and strangg note,

Till sche be fast lokin his net amyd,

That in the busk for his desate is hid ;
Ryght so the fatoure, the false theif, I say,
With suete tresoun oft wynnith thus his pray.

CXXXII. 5. Accord thereto j and vtrid be mesure, S. ; vtrid be ; W. W.
CXXXIII. 7. vnto, S. CXXXIV. i. (For) there be ; 2. in lufe, S.

CXXXV. Transposition of 4 and 5, W. W.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 69

Be trewe and meke and stedfast in thy thoght

And diligent hir merci to procure

Nqg7ft onely in thy word/'for word is no^t

Bot gif thy werk and all thy besy cure

Accord ther^to/'and vtrid be mesure

The place/'the hour*/the man*r and the wis*

Gif mm:y sail admitten thy

(133)

All thing has tyme thus sais Ecclesiaste
And wele is him ]>at his tyme wel abit
Abyde thy tyme/*for he Ipat can bot haste
Can noght of hap/the wis* man It writ
And oft gud fortune flourith with gude wit
Quharrfor* gif thou will be wele fortunyt
Lat wisedom ay to thy will be lunyt

(134)

Bot there be mony of so brukill sort
That feynis treuth In lufe for a quhile
And setten all thair* wittis and disport
The sely Innocent womaw to begyle
And so to wynne thair^ lust/; with a wile
Suich feynit treuth is all bot trechorye

heid
Vnd^r the vmbre of ypocrisye

(135)

For as the fouler* quhistlith in his throte
Diu*rs*ly to count^rfete the brid
And feynis mony a suete and strange note
That in the busk for his desate is hid
Till sche be fast lok in his net amyd
Ry^At so the fatour* the false theif I say
W/'t/t suete tresouH oft wynnith thus his pray

yo THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

CXXXVI

Fy on all suich ! fy on thaire doubilnesse !

Fy on thaire lust and bestly appetite !
Thaire wolfis hertis, in lambis likgnesse ;

Thaire thoughtis blak, hid vnder wordis quhite ;

Fy on thaire laboure ! fy on thaire delyte !
That feynen outward all to hir honour,
And in thaire hert hir worschip wold deuoure.

cxxxvn

So hard it is to trusten now on dayes,

The warld it is so double and inconstant,

Off quhich the suth is kid be mony assayes ;
More pitee is ; for quhich the remanant,
That menen wele, and ar noght variant,

For otheris gilt ar suspect of vntreuth,

And hyndrit oft, and treuely that is reuth.

cxxxvm

Bet gif the hert be groundit ferme and stable
in Goddis law, thy purpose to atteyne,

Thy laboure is to me wel agreable ;

And my full help, with counsele trew and pleyne,
I will the schewe, and this is the certeyne ;

Opyn thy hert, therefore, and lat me se

Gif thy remede be pertynent to me."

cxxxix

" Madame," quod I, " sen it is your plesance
That 1 declare the kynd of my loving,

Tieuely and gude, withoutin variance,
I lufe that floure abufe all othir thing,
And wold bene he that to hir worschipping

Myght ought auaile, be Him that starf on rude,

And nouthir spare for trauaile, lyf, nor gude.

CXXXVII. 6. ar, S. CXXXVIII. 3. ful agreable, S.

THE KINGIS QU AIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 71

Fy on all suich fy on thai™ doubilness^

Fy on thai™ lust and bestly appetite

Thai™ wolfis herm in lambis likness*

Thai™ thoughtis blak hid vnd^r wordis quhite

Fy on thai™ labou™ fy on thai™ delyte

That feynen outward all to hir honowr

And in thai™ hert hir worschip wold deuou™

(137)

So hard It is to trusten now on dayes
The warld/'It is so double and inconstant
Offquhich the suth is kid be mony assayes
More pitee is/*for quhich the remanant
That menen wele/'and are noght variant
For othim gilt/'and suspect of vntreuth
And hyndrit oft and treuely that is reuth

Bot gif the hert be groundit ferm and stable

In goddis law thy pwrpos* to atteyne

Thy labou™ is to me agreable

And my full help with counsele trew and pleyne

I will the schewe/-and this is the orrteyne

Opyn thy hert the™fo™ and lat me se

Gif thy remede be p^rtynent to me

('39)

Madame q«0d I sen it is $o«r plesance
That I declare the kynd of my loving
Treuely and gude w/t/ioutin variance
I lufe that floure abufe all othir thing
And wold bene he/-)?flt to hir worschipping
Myght ought auaile/be him }>at starf on rude
And nouthir spare for trauaile lyf nor gude

72 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

CXL

And forthirmore, as touching the nature
Off my luting, to worschip or to blame,

I darre wele say, and there-in me assure,
For ony gold that ony wight can name
Nold I be he that suld of hir gude fame

Be blamischere in ony point or wyse

For wele nor wo, quhill my life may suffise.

CXLI
This is theffect trewly of myn entent,

Touching the suete that smertis me so sore,
Giffthis be faynt, I can it noght repent,

Ail-though my lyf suld forfaut be therefore :
Blisfull princes ! I can seye $ou no more :
Bot so desire my wittis dooth compace,
More ioy in erth kepe I noght bot ^our grace."

CXLII

" Desire," quod sche, " I nyl it noght deny,
So thou it ground and set in Cristin wise ;

And therefore, son, opyn thy hert playnly."
" Madame," quod I, " trewly, without fantise :
That day sail I neuer desire vp-rise

For my delyte to couate the plesance

That may hir worschip putten in balance.

CXLIII

For oure all thing, lo, this were my gladnesse,
To sene the fresche beautee of hir face ;

And gif I myght deserue", be processe,

For my grete lufe and treuth, to stond in grace,
Hir worschip sauf, lo, here the blisfull cace

That I wold ask, and there-unto attend,

For my most ioye vnto my lyfts end."

CXL. 5. Nold, S. CXLI. 3. faute, S. in notes.
CXLII. 5. sail neuer be I sail, S. ; behold uprise, W.
CXLIII. 3. I, S. 6. there-unto, S. ; aske, W.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 73

(140)

And forthirmorv as touching the nature
Off my lufing/'to worschip or to blame
I darr* wele say/*and therein me assure
For ony gold ]>at ony wight can name
Wald I be he }>at suld of hir gude fame
Be blamischer* In ony point or wys*
For wele nor wo/'quhill my lyf may suffis*

(HI)

This Is theffect trewly of myn entent
Touching the suete ]>at smertis me so sore
Giff this be faynt/I can It noght repent
All though my lyf suld forfaut be therefore
Blisfull princes I can seye $ou no more
Bot so desire my wittis dooth compace
More loy in erth kepe I noght bot $owr grace

Desire quod sche I nyl It no^t deny
So thou It grownd and set in cristin wis*
And therefor* son opyn thy hert playnly
Madame quod I trew w/t/ioutin fantis*
That day sail I neu*r vp ris*
For my delyte to couate the plesance
That may hir worschip putten In balance

(143)

For our* all thing lo this wer* my gladness*

To sene the fresche beautee of hir face

And gif It myght des*rue be process*

For my grete lufe and treuth to stond in grace

Hir worschip sauf/lo here the blisfull cace

That I wold ask and thereto attend

For my most loye vnto my lyfis end

74 THE KINGIS QU AIR— AMENDED TEXT

CXLIV

" Now wele," quod sche, " and sen that it is so,
That in vertew thy lufe is set with treuth,

To helpen the I will be one of tho

From hennesforth, and hertly without sleuth,
Off thy distresse and excesse to haue reuth,

That has thy hert : I will hir pray full faire,

That Fortune be no more thereto contraire.

CXLV

For suth it is, that all 36 creaturis,

Quhich vnder vs beneth haue ^our duellyng,

Ressauen diuersely ^our auenturis,

Off quhich the cure and principall melling
Apperit is, withoutin repellyng,

Onely to hir that has the cuttis two

In hand, bothe of ^our wele and of ^our wo.

CXLVI

And how so be it that sum clerkis trete,
That all ^our chance y-causit is tofore
Heigh in the hevin, by quhois effectis grete
3e movit are to wrething, lesse or more,
Thar in the warld, thus calling that therefore
* Fortune,' and so that the diuersitee
Off thaire wirking suld cause necessitee.

CXLVII

Bot othir clerkis halden that the man
Has in himself the chose and libertee

To cause his awin fortune, how or quhan
That him best lest, and no necessitee
Was in the hevin at his natiuitee,

Bot }it the thingis happin in commune

Efter purpose, so cleping thame ' Fortune.'

CXLIV. 4. hennesforth, S. 5, 6. I will hir pray, S.

CXLV. 5. (Appointit) (Pertynent).

CXLVI. i. so be it, S. ; so be that, W. 2. chance", S. 5. Thar, S.

THE KINGIS QU AIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 75

Now wele quod sche/and sen ]>at It is so
That In v*rtew thy lufe is set with treuth
To helpen the I will be one of tho
From hensforth/and hertly without sleuth
Off thy distress* and excess* to haue reuth
That has thy hert/*I will pray full fain?
That fortune be no more thereto contrail

(145)

3e
For suth It is \at allAfcbe creatur/5

Quhich vnd*r vs beneth haue jour duellyng

Ressauen diu*rs*ly $o«r aue«tur/V

OfFquhich the cur* and principall melling

Apperit is withoutin repellyng

Onely to hir }wt has the cuttis two

In hand/'bothe of jour wele/-and of ^owr wo

And how so be/j?#t sum clerk/j trete
That all 3owr chance causit Is tofon?
Heigh In the hevin/*by quhois efFect/'j grete
3e movit are to wrething less* or more
Quhare In the warld thus calling j?at therefore
Fortune/'and so )?«t the diu^rsitee
OflF thair* wirking suld caus* necessitee

Bot othir clerk/V halden ]>at the man
Has in him self the chos* and libertee
To caus* his awin fortune how or quhan
That him best lest/'and no * necessitee
Was In the heviw at his natiuitee
Bot }it the thingis happm in commune
Eft*r pwrpose'so cleping thame fortune

* A letter like a is here erased.

76 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

CXLVIII

And quhare a persone has tofore knawing

Off it that is to fallen purposely,
Lo, Fortune is hot wayke in suich a thing,

Thou may wele wit, and here ensample quhy ;

To God, that is the first cause onely
Off euery thing, there may no fortune fall :
And quhy ? for he foreknawin is of all.

CXLIX

And therefore thus I say to this sentence ;
Fortune is most and strangest euermore

Quhare leste foreknawing or intelligence
Is in the man ; and, sone, of wit and lore
Sen thou art wayke and feble, lo, therefore,

The more thou art in dangere in commune

With hir that clerkis clepen so Fortune.

CL

Bot for the sake, and at the reuerence
Off Venus clere, as I the said tofore,

I haue of thy distresse compacience ;

And in confort and relesche of thy sore,
The schewit I here myn avise therefore ;

Pray Fortune help, for mich vnlikly thing

Full oft about sche sodeynly dooth bring.

CLI

Now go thy way, and haue gude mynde vpon
Quhat I haue said in way of thy doctryne."

" I sail, madame," quod I ; and ryght anon
I tuke my leve. Als straught as ony lyne,
With-in a beme that fro the contree dyvine

Sche, percyng throw the firmament, extendit,

To ground ageyne my spirit is descendit ;

CXLVIII. 2. fallen, S. 5. that, S., firste, S. (anerly). CXLIX. 5. are, S.

CL. 5. haue here, S. CLI. 3. quod I, S.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 77

(148)

And quhare a p^rsone has tofor? knawing

Off It \a\. is to fall purposely

lo fortune is hot wayke in suich a thing

Thou may wele wit/*and here ensample quhy

To god It is the first caus? onely

Off eu?ry thing/there may no fortune fall

And quhj^'for he for^knawin is of all

(149)

And therefor? thus I say to this sentence
Fortune Is most/and strangest eumnore
Quhare leste for?knawing or intelligence
Is in the man/-and sone of wit or lore
Sen thou art wayke and feble lo therefor?
The more thou art in danger? and commune
With hir \a\. clerk/* clepen so fortune

Bot for the sake and at the reu^rence
Off venwj clere as I the said tofore
I haue of thy distress* compacience
And in confort/and relesche of thy sore
The schewit here myw avis? therefor? ,
Pray fortune help/for mich vnlikely thing
Full oft about sche sodeynly dooth bring

(IS')

Now go thy way and haue gude mynd vpon
Quhat I haue said in way of thy doctryne
I sail madame quod he/'and ryght anon
I tuke my leve als straught as ony lyne
Within a beme ]>at fro the contree dyvine
Sche percyng throw the firmament extendit
To ground ageyne my spirit is descendit

78 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

CLII

Quhare, in a lusty plane, tuke I my way,
Endlang a ryuer, plesant to behold,

Enbroudin all with fresche flouris gay,

Quhare, throu the grauel, bryght as ony gold,
The cristall water ran so clere and cold,

That in myn erg maid contynualy

A maner soune, mellit with armony ;

CLIII
That full of lytill fischis by the brym,

Now here, now there, with bakkis blewe as lede,
Lap and playit, and in a rout can swym
So prattily, and dressit thame to sprede
Thaire curall fynnis, as the ruby rede,
That in the sonne vpon thaire scalis bryght
As gesserant ay glitterit in my sight :

CLIV

And by this ilke ryuer-syde alawe

Ane hye-way thar fand I like to bene,

On quhich, on euery syde", a long rawe
Off treis saw I, full of leuis grene,
That full of fruyte delitable were to sene,

And also, as it come vnto my mind,

Off bestis sawe I mony diuerse kynd :

CLV

The lyoun king, and his fere lyonesse ;

The pantere, like vnto the smaragdyne ;
The lytill squerell, full of besynesse ;

The slawfi ase, the druggare beste of pyne ;

The nyce ape ; the werely porpapyne ;
The percyng lynx ; the lufare vnicorne,
That voidis venym with his euour home.

CLII. 6. in myn ere, S. CLIII. 6. sonne, S.

CLIV. a. thar, S. 3. longe, S. ; syde, W. W.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 79

(152)

Quhare In a lusty plane tuke I my way
Endlang a ryu^r plesant to behold
Enbroudin all with fresche flour/5 gay
Quhare throu the grauel bryght as ony gold
The cristall water ran so clere and cold
That in myn ere maid contynualy
A man*r soun mellit with armony

(153)

That full of lytill fischis by the brym
Now here now there with bakk/j blewe as lede
lap and playit/'* and In a rout can swym
So prattily and In a. rout can dressit tham to sprede
Thair* curall fynnis as the ruby rede
That In the sonne on thair* scalis bryght
As gesserant ay glittmt In my sight

(154)

And by this ilke ryuer syde alawe
Ane hye way fand I like to bene
On quhich on eu^ry syde a long rawe
Off treis/'saw I full of leuis grene
That full of fruyte delitable were to sene
And also as It come vnto my mynd
Off bestis sawe I mony diu^rs* kynd

(155)

The lyouH king and his fere lyonesse
The pantere like vnto the smaragdyne
The lytill squerell full of besyness*
The slawe as* the druggar* beste of pyne
The nyce ape/'the wen-ly porpapyne
The p^rcyng lynx the lufar* vnicorne
That voidis venym with his euour^ home

* Very faint.

8o THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

CLVI

There sawe I dresse him new out of his haunt

The fery tigere, full of felonye ;
The dromydare ; the standar oliphant ;

The wyly fox, the wedowis inemye ;

The clymbare gayte ; the elk for alblastrye ;
The herknere bore ; the holsum grey for hortis ;
The haire also, that oft gooth to the wortis ;

CLVII
The bugill, draware by his hornis grete,

The martrik sable, the foyn^ee, and mony mo ;
The chalk-quhite ermyn, tippit as the iete ;

The riall hert, the conyng, and the ro ;

The wolf, that of the murthir noght sayis " Ho !"
The lesty beuer, and the ravin bare ;
For chamelot the camel full of hare ;

CLVIII
^Vith mony an-othir beste diuerse and strange,

•That cummyth noght as now vnto my mynd.
Bot now to purpose : straucht furth to the range
I held away, oure-hailing in my mynd
From quhens I come, and quhare that I suld fynd
Fortune, the goddesse, vnto quhom in hye
Gude-Hope, my gyde, has led me sodeynly.

CLIX
And at the last, behalding thus asyde,

A round place, and y-wallit, haue I found ;
In myddis quhare eftsones I have spide

Fortune, the goddesse, hufing on the ground ;

And ryght before hir fete, of compas round,
A quhele, onto quhich cleuering I sye
A multitude of folk before myn eye.

CLVI. i. his haunt, S. CLVII. 5. sayis, S. CLVIII. 3. furth by, W.
CLIX. 2. rounde, y-wallit, S. 3. aspide, S. 6. quhich than, S.

THE KINGIS QU AIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 81

(156)

There sawe I dress* him new out of hauwt

The fery tiger* full of felonye

The dromydar* • the standar oliphant

The wyly fox the wedowis Inemye

The clymbar* gayte the elk for alblastrye

The herkner* bore/'the holsum grey for hort/'j

The hair* also/)?tft oft gooth to the wortis

(157)

The bugill drawar* by his hornis grete
The martrik sable/the foyn^ee and mony mo
The chalk quhite ermyn tippit as the lete
The riall hert the conyng and the ro
The wolf \a\. of the murthir noght say ho
The lesty beu*r and the ravin bare
For chamelot the camel full of hare

With mony an othir beste diu*rs* and strange
That cummyth noght as now vnto my mynd
Bot now to pwrpos* straucht furth the range
I held away our*hailing in my mynd
From quhens I come/'and quhare jwt I suld fynd
Fortune the goddess* vnto quhom In hye
Gude hope my gyde has led me sodeynly

(159)

And at the last behalding thus asyde
A round place wallit haue I found
In myddis quhare eftsone I haue spide
Fortune the goddess* hufing on the grou«d
And ryght before hir fete of compas round
A quhele/-on quhich cleu*ring I sye
A multitude of folk befor* myn eye

14

8a THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

CLX

And ane surcote sche werit long that tyde,
That semyt to me of mony diuerse hewis ;

And quhilum thus, quhen sche wald turne asyde,
Stude this goddesse of fortune ; and of lewis
A chapellet with mony fresche anewis

Sche had vpon her hed ; and with this hong

A mantill on hir schuldris, large and long,

CLXI

That furrit was with ergmyn full quhite,
Degoutit with the self in spottis blake :

And quhilum in hir chere thus a lyte

Louring sche was ; and than sone sche wold slake,
And sodeynly a maner smylyng make,

And sche were glad ; for at one contenance

Sche held hir noght, hot ay in variance.

CLXII
And vnderneth the quhele sawe I there

An vgly pit as depe as ony helle,
That to behald thereon I quoke for fere ;
Bot o thing herd I, that quho there- in fell
Come no more vp agane, tidingis to telle ;
Off quhich, astonait of that ferefull syght,
I ne wist quhat to done, so was I fricht.

CLXIII

Bot for to se the sudayn weltering

Off that ilk quhele, that sioppare was to hold,

It semyt vnto my wit a stronge thing,

So mony I sawe that thareon clymben wold,
And failit foting, and to ground were rold ;

And othir eke, that sat aboue on hye,

Were ouerthrawe in twinklyng of an eye.

CLX. 2. vnto, S. ; diuerse, W. 3. wald hir, S. 4. of glewis, S.
CLXI. 3. chere, W. W. 6. for, S. 7. hot was, S.
CLXII. 2. was, S. j as depe, W. CLXIII. 3. strange, S.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 83

(160)

And ane surcote sche werit long that tyde
That semyt to me of diu^rs* hewis
Quhilum thus quhen sche wald turn asyde
Stude this goddess* of fortune *.nd
A chapellet with mony fresche anewis
Sche had vpon hir hed and with this hong
A mantill on hir schuldris large and long

(161)

That furrit was with ermyn full quhite

Degoutit with the self in spottis blake

And quhilum In hir chier* thus alyte

Louring sche was/'* and thus sone It wold slake

And sodeynly a man^r smylyng make

And sche were glad at one contenance

Sche held noght hot ay in variance

And vnderneth the quhele sawe I there
An vgly pit depe as ony helle
That to behald thereon I quoke for fere
Bot o thing herd I ]>at quho therein fell
Com no more vp agane tidingis to telle
Off quhich astonait of that ferefull syght
I ne wist quhat to done/'so was I fricht

Bot for to se the sudayn weltering

Off that Ilk quhele ]>a t sloppar* was to hold

It semyt vnto my wit a strong thing

So mony I sawe J?#t than clymben wold

And failit foting/'and to ground wer* rold

And othir eke ]>at sat aboue on hye

Wen- ouerthrawe In twinklyng of an eye

* Very faint.

84 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

CLXIV

And on the quhele was lytill voi'd space,
Wele nere overstraught fro lawe to hye ;

And they were ware that long had sat in place,
So tolter quhilum did sche it to-wrye ;
There was hot clymben and ryght dounward hye,

And sum were eke that fallyng had tofore,

There for to clymbe thaire corage was no more.

CLXV
I sawe also that, quhere sum were yslungin,

Be quhirlyng of the quhele, vnto the ground,
Full sudaynly sche hath it vp ythrungin,

And set thame on agane full sauf and sound :
And euer I sawe a newe swarm abound,
That socht to clymbe vpward vpon the quhele,
In stede of thame that myght no langer rele.

CLXVI
And at the last, in presence of thame all

That stude about, sche clepit me be name ;
And therewith apon kneis gan I fall

Full sodaynly, halflyng abaist for schame ;

And, smylyng thus, sche said to me in game,
" Quhat dois thou here ? Quho has the hider sent ?
Say on anon, and tell me thyn entent.

CLXVII

I se wele, by thy chere and contenance,
There is sum thing that lyis the on hert,

It stant noght with the as thou wald, perchance ?"
" Madame," quod I, " for lufe is all the smert
That euer I fele, endlang and ouerthwert.

Help, of ^our grace, me wofull wrechit wight,

Sen me to cure ye powere haue and myght."

CLXIV. i. quhele, W. z. Text, W. W. ; lawe vnto, S. 3. longe, S.

5. clymben, S. 6. so sore, S.
CLXV. i. quhareas, S. 3. thaim, S. 5. newe, S. 6. That thought to, S.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 85

(164)

And on the quhele was lytill void space
Wele nere our* straught fro lawe to hye
And they were war* \at long sat In place
So tolt^r quhilum did sche It to wrye
There was hot clymbe and ryght dounward hye
And sum were eke }>at fallyng had sore
There for to clymbe/thair* corage was no more

I sawe also ^at quhere sum were slungin
Be quhirlyng of the quhele vnto the ground
Full sudaynly sche hath vp ythrungin
And set thame on agane full sauf aW sound
And eu*r I sawe a new swarm abound
That to clymbe vpward vpon the quhele
In stede of thame }>at myght no lang^r rele

(i 66)

And at the last In pmene of thame all
That stude about sche clepit me be name
And ther*w/t£ apon kneis gan I fall
Full sodaynly hailsing/'abaist for schame
And smylyng thus sche said to me in game
Quhat dois thou here/quho has the hid^r sent
Say on anon/-and tell me thyn entent

(167)

I se wele by thy chere and conteViance

There is sum thing ]>at lyis the on hert

Ar It stant noght with the as thou wald perchance

Madame qw0d I'/.for lufe Is all the smert

That eu^r I fele endlang and ou^rthwert

Help of 30«r grace me wofull wrechit wight

Sen me to cure/^e powere haue and myght

86 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

CLXVIII

" Quhat help," quod sche, " wold thou that I ordeyne,
To bringen the vnto thy hertis desire ?"

" Madame," quod I, " hot that ^our grace dedeyne,
Off ^our grete myght, my wittis to enspire,
To win the well that slokin may the fyre,

In quhich I birn. A, goddesse fortunate !

Help now my game, that is in point to mate."

CLXIX

" Off mate ?" quod sche, " O ! verray sely wrech,
I se wele by thy dedely coloure pale,

Thou art to feble of thy-self to streche
Vpon my quhele, to clymben or to hale
Withoutin help ; for thou has fundin stale

This mony day, withoutin werdis wele,

And wantis now thy veray hertis hele.

CLXX

Wele maistow be a wrechit man ycallit,

That wantis the confort suld thy hert glade ;

And has all thing within thy hert ystallit,
That may thy ^outh oppressen or defade.
Though thy begynnyng hath bene retrograde,

Be froward, opposyt, thare-till aspert,

Now sail thai turne, and luken on the dert."

CLXXI

And therewith-all vnto the quhele in hye

Sche hath me led, and bad me lere to clymbe,

Vpon the quhich I steppit sudaynly.

" Now hald thy grippis," quod sche, " for thy tyme
An houre and more it rynnis ouer prime ;

To count the hole, the half is nere away ;

Spend wele, therefore, the remanant of the day.

CLXVIII. 2. bringen, S. CLXIX. 4. clymben, S.

CLXX. i. y-callit, S. 2. S. omits that before "suld" and reads " herte."
3. herte stallit, S. 6. thare-till, W. W. 6. (appert).
7 luken, S. (hikis.)

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 87

(168)

Quhat help quod sche wold thou \at I ordeyne
To bring the vnto thy hertis desire
Madame qwcd I hot ]>at $our grace dedeyne
Off $owr grete myght my wittis to enspire
To win the well ]>at slokin may the fyre
In quhich I birn/a goddess* fortunate
Help now my game Jwt is in poynt to mate

(169)

Off mate quod sche o verray sely wrech
I se wele by thy dedely colour* pale
Thou art to feble of thy self to streche
Vpon my quhele to clymbe or to hale
Withoutin help-for thou has fundin stale
This mony day w/t/ioutin werdis wele
And wantis now thy veray hertis hele

(170)

Wele maistow be a wrech it man callit
That wantis the confort Jwt suld thy hert glade
And has all thing within thy hert stallit
That may thy ^outh oppressen or defade
Though thy begy«nyng hath bene retrograde
Be froward opposyt quhare till aspert
Now sail thai turn/and luke on the dert

(170

And therewith all vnto the quhele In hye
Sche hath me led/'and bad me lere to clymbe
Vpon the quhich I steppit sudaynly
Now hald thy grippis quod sche for thy tyme
An houre and more It rywnis ou*r prime
To count the hole/the half is ner* away
Spend wele therefor* the remanant of the day

88 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

CLXXII

Ensample," quod she, " tak of tho tofore
That fro my quhele be rollit as a ball ;

For the nature of it is euermore,

After ane hicht, to vale and geue a fall,
Thus, quhen me likith, vp or doune to fall :

Fare-wele," quod sche ; and by the ere me toke

So ernestly, that therewithall I woke.

CLXXIII

O besy goste ! ay flikering to and fro,
That neuer art in quiet nor in rest,

Till thou cum to that place that thou cam fro,
Quhich is thy first and verray proper nest :
From day to day so sore here artow drest,

That with thy flesche ay walking art in trouble,

And sleping eke ; of pyne so has thou double.

CLXXIV

Touert my-self all this mene I to loke.
Though that my spirit vexit was tofore

In sueuenyng, alssone as euer I woke
By twenty-fold it was in trouble more,
Bethinking me with sighing hert and sore

That I nan othir thingis bot dremes had,

Nor sekernes, my spirit with to glad.

CLXXV
And therewith sone I dressit me to ryse,

Fulfild of thoght, pyne, and aduersitee ;
And to my-self I said into this wise ;

" A ! merci, Lord ! quhat will 36 do with me ?

Quhat lyf is this ? quhare hath my spirit be ?
Is this of my forethoght impressioun,
Or is it from the hevin avisioun ?

CLXXIV. i. Towart, S., in note. Couert myself all this ment I to loke, W.

3. sueuenyng, S. 6. I, S.
CLXXV. 3. vpon this wise, S.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 89

Ensample quod sche/tak of this tofore
That fro my quhele be rollit as a ball
For the nature of It is eu^rmore
After ane hicht to vale/'and geue a fall
Thus quhen me likith vp or doun to fall
Fare wele quod sche/*and by the ere me toke
So ernestly/:)>tft therew/ttall I woke

to*

O besy goste ay flikering to aW fro

That neu^r art In quiet nor In rest

Till thou cum to that place \al thou cam fro

Quhich is thy first/and verray proper nest

From day to day so sore here artow drest

That with thy flesche ay walking art in trouble

And sleping eke of pyne so has thou double

(174)

Couert* my self all this mene I to loke
Though j?at my spirit vexit was tofore
In sueuyng alssone as eu*r I woke
By xx*J fold It was In trouble more
Bethinking me with sighing hert an^ sore
That nan othir thingis bot dremes had
Nor sek<?rnes/-my spirit with to glad

(175)

And therewith sone I dressit me to rys*
Fulfild of tho^/it/'pyne and adu^rsitee
And to my self I said In this wis*
t b Quhat lyf is this/'quhare hath my spirit be
a A mm:i lord quhat will 36 do with me
Is this of my forethoght Impressiouw
Or Is It from the hevin avisiouw

* The initial C may be a T. There seems in MS. a very, very faint left limb
to the letter.

f b and a are in handwriting of scribe.

90 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

CLXXVI

And gif 36 goddis, of ^oure puruiance,
Haue schewit this for my reconforting,

In relesche of my furiouse pennance,
I 3ow beseke full humily of this thing,
That of ^oure grace I myght haue takenyng,

Gif it sal be as in my slepe before

3e shewit haue." And forth, withoutin more,

CLXXVII

In hye vnto the wyndow gan I walk,
Moving within my spirit of this sight,

Quhare sodeynly a turture, quhite as calk,
So evinly vpon my hand gan lyght,
And vnto me sche turnyt hir full ryght ;

Offquham the chere in hir birdis aport

Gave me in hert kalendis of confort.

CLXXVIII

This fair bird ryght in hir bill gan hold
Of red iorofflis with thair stalkis grene

A fair branche, quhare writtin was with gold
On euery list with branchis bryght and schene
In compas fair, full plesandly to sene,

A plane sentence, quhich, as I can deuise

And haue in mynd, said ryght vpon this wise :

CLXXIX

" Awak ! awake ! I bring, lufar, I bring
The newis glad, that blisfull bene and sure

Of thy confort ; now lauch, and play, and syng,
That art besid so glad an auenture ;
For in the hevyn decretit is thi cure."

And vnto me, the flouris fair present,

With wyngis spred hir wayis furth sche went.

CLXXVII. 3. chalk, S. 7. herte, S.
CLXXVIII. 3. faire, S. 4. (lettris). 7. vpon, S.
CLXXIX. 4. (That has betid).

THE KINGIS QU AIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 91

(176)

And gif 36 goddis of joure pwruiance

Haue schewit this for my reconforting

In relesche of my furious* pennance

I $ow beseke full huily of this thing

That of $oure grace I myght haue more takenyng

Gif It salbe/*as in my slepe before

3e schewit haue/'and forth withoutin more

(177)

In hye vnto the wyndow gan I walk
Moving within my spirit of this sight
Quhare sodeynly a twrtur* quhite as calk
So evinly vpon my hand gan \yght
And vnto me sche twrnyt hir full ryght
Offquham the chere in hir birdis aport
Gave me in hert kalendis of confort

(Another scribe begins here.)

(178)

This fair bird ryght In hir bill gan hold

Of red lorofflis with thair stalkis grene

A fair branche quhare writtin was with gold

On euery list witht branchis bryght wid schene

In compas fair full plesandly to sene

A plane sentence quhich as I can deuis*

And haue In mynd said ryght on )?is wise

(179)

Awak awake I bring lufar I bring

The newis glad that blisfull ben and sure

Of thy confort now lauch aW play and syng

That art besid so glad an auenture

For In the hevyn decretit is j?e cure

And vnto me the flouris fair present

With wyng/V spred hir wayis furth sche went

92 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

CLXXX

Quhilk vp a-non I tuke, and as I gesse,
Ane hundreth tymes, or I forthir went,

I haue it red, with hert full of glaidnese ;

And, half with hope, and half with dred, it hent,
And at my beddis hed, with gud entent,

I haue it fair ypynnit vp, and this

First takyn was of all my help and blisse ;

CLXXXI

The quhich treuly therefter, day be day,

That all my wittis maistrit had tofore,
From hennesferth the paynis did away.

And schortly, so wele Fortune has hir bore,

To quikin treuly day by day my lore,
To my larges that I am cumin agayne,
To blisse with hir that is my souiraine.

CLXXXII

Bot for als moche as sum micht think or seyne,
Quhat nedis me, apoun so litill evyn,
To writt all this ? I ansuere thus ageyne, —
Quho that from hell war croppin onys in hevin,
Wald efter o thank for ioy mak sax or sevyn.
And euery wicht his awin suete or sore
Has maist in mynde : I can say 3ou no more.

CLXXXIII
Eke quho may in this lyfe haue more plesance

Than cum to largesse from thraldom and peyne,
And by the mene of Luffis ordinance,

That has so mony in his goldin cheyne ?

Quhich thinkis to wyn his hertis souereyne,
Quho suld me wite to write thar-of, lat se !
Now sufficiance is my felicitee,

CLXXX. 3. hertefull, S. 6. fairt, S.
CLXXXI. i. quhiche, S. 3. From hennesferth, S. CLXXXII. 5. (of

thank).

CLXXXIII. 5. thinkis, S. 7. pointing felicitee, W. W. ; felicitee. S.
sufficiante, S.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 93

(180)

Quhilk vp anon I tuke and as I gess*

Ane hundreth tymes or I forthir went

I haue It red with hertfull glaidnes*

And half with hope and half with dred It hent

And at my beddis hed with gud entent

I haue It fair pywnit vp and this

First takyn was of all my help and bliss*.

(181)

The quhich treuly efter day be day
That all my wittis maistrit had to fore
Quhich hensferth the paynis did away
And schortly so wele fortune has hir bore
To quikin treuly day by day my lore
To my larges that I am cumin agayn
To blisse with hir that is my souiraine

Bot for als moche as sum micht think or seyne
Quhat nedis me apoun so litill evyn
To writt all this I ansuere thus ageyne

r

Quho that from hell war coppin onys In hevin
Wald efter O thank for loy mak vi or vii
And euery wicht his awin suete or sore
Has maist In mynde I can say $ou no more

Eke quho may In this lyfe haue more plesance
Than cum to largess* from thraldom and peyne
And by the mene of luffis Ordinance
That has so mony In his goldin cheyne
Quhich this to wyn his hertis sou^reyne
Quho suld me wite to write thar of lat se
Now sufficiance Is my felicitee

94 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

CLXXXIV

Beseching vnto fair Venus abufe,

For all my brethir that bene in this place,

This is to seyne, that seruandis ar to Lufe,
And of his lady can no thank purchase,
His paine relesch, and sone to stand in grace,

Boith to his worschip and to his first ese ;

So that it hir and resoun noght displese :

CLXXXV

And eke for tham that ar noght entrit inne
The dance of lufe, bot thidder-wart on way,

In gude tyme and sely to begynne

Thair prentissehed, and forthir-more I pray
For thame that passit ben the mony affray

In lufe, and cummyn ar to full plesance,

To graunt tham all, lo ! gude perseuerance :

CLXXXVI

And eke I pray for all the hertis dull,

That lyven here in sleuth and ignorance,

And has no curage at the rose to pull,

Thair lif to menden and thair saulis auance
With thair suete lore, and bring thame to gude
chance ;

And quho that will noght for this prayer turn

Quhen thai wald faynest speid, that thai may spurn,

CLXXXVII

To rekyn of euery-thing the circumstance,
As hapnit me quhen^ lessen gan my sore,

Of my rancoure and al my wofull chance,
It war to long, I lat it be tharefor.
And thus this flouris, I can seye no more,

So hertly has vnto my help attendit,

That from the deth hir man sche has defendit.

CLXXXIV. i. (Beseche I).
CLXXXVII. 3. al my, S. 5. floure I can seye $ou no more, S.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 95

(184)

Beseching vnto fair venus abufe
For all my brethir ]>at ben In this place
This Is to seyne j?at smiandis'are to lufe
And of his lady can no thank pwrchas^
His paine relesch and sone to stand In grace
Boith to his worschip and to his first es*
So that It hir and aW resoun noght disples*

And eke for tham j?at ar nogbt entrit Inne

The dance of lufe bot thidd^rwart on way

In gude tym and sely to begynne

For thame that passit ben )?e mony affray ) ^

Thair prentiss^hed and forthirmore I pray f

In lufe and cunnyng are to full plesance

To graunt tham all/lo gude p^rseuerance

(i 86)

And eke I pray for all the hertis dull

That lyven here In sleuth and Ignorance

And has no curage at the ros* to pull

Thair lif to mend and thair saulis auance

With thair suete lore wid bring tham to gude chance

And quho that will noght for this prayer turn

Quhen thai wald faynest speid ]>at j?ai may spurn

To Rekyn of euery thing the circumstance

As hapnit me quhen lessen gan my sore

Of my rancoure and wofull chance

It war to long-I lat It be tharefor

And thus this flouris I can seye no more

So hertly has vnto my help attendit

That from the deth hir man sche has defendit

* The marks £, ay fr, and ) are written by a later hand and not by the
scribe.

96 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

CLXXXVIII

And eke the goddis mercifull virking,

For my long pane and trewe seruice in lufe,

That has me gevin halely myn asking,
Quhich has my hert for euir sett abufe
In perfyte ioy, that neuir may remufe,

Bot onely deth : of quhom, in laud and prise,

With thankfull hert I say richt in this wise : —

CLXXXIX

" Blissit mot be the blisfull goddis all,
So fair that glitteren in the firmament !

And blissit be thare myght celestiall,

That haue convoyit hale, with one assent,
My lufe, and to so glade a consequent !

And thankit be Fortunys exiltree

And quhele, that thus so wele has quhirlit me.

cxc

Thankit mot be, and fair in lufe befall

The nychtingale, that, with so gud entent,

Sang thare of lufe the notis suete and small,
Quhair my fair hertis lady was present,
Hir with to glad, or that sche forthir went !

And thou gerafloure, mot i-thankit be

All othir flouris for the lufe of the !

cxci

And thankit be the fair castell wall,

Quhare as I quhilom lukit furth and lent.

Thankit mot be the sanctis marciall,
That me first causit hath this accident.
Thankit mot be the grene bewis bent,

Throu quhom, and vnder, first fortunyt me

My hertis hele, and my confort to be.

CLXXXIX. i. heyfi goddis, S. 5. so glade, S.
CXCI. i. faire, S. 3. (factis marciall).

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 97

. (188)

And eke the goddis mercifull virking
For my long pane and trewe s^ruice In lufe
That has me gevin halely myn asking
Quhich has my hert for euir sett abufe
In perfyte loy that neuir may remufe
Bot onely deth of quhom In laud aW pris*
With thankfull hert I say richt In this wise

Blissit mot be the goddis all

So fair that glitteren In j?e firmament

And blissit be thare myght celestiall

That haue convoyit hale with one assent

My lufe and to glade a consequent

And thankit be fortunys exiltree

And quhile that thus so wele has quhirlic me

(190)

Thankit mot be and fair and lufe befall
The nychtingale j?at with so gud entent
Sang thare of lufe the notis suete and small
Quhair my fair hertis lady was present
Hir with to glad or that sche forthir went
And thou gerafloure mot I thankit be
All othir floum for ]?e lufe of )?e

(190

And thankit be )?e fair castell wall
Quhare as I quhilom lukit furth aW lent
Thankit mot be the sanctis marciall
That me first causit hath this accident
Thankit mot be the grene bewis bent
Throu quhom and vnder first fortunyt one
My hertis hele and my confort to be

98 THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

CXCII

For to the presence suete and delitable,

Rycht of this floure that full is of plesance,

By processe and by menys fauorable,
First of the blisfull goddis purueyance,
And syne throu long and trew contynuance

Of veray faith in lufe and trew seruice,

I cumin am, and forthir in this wise.

cxcin

Vn worthy, lo, bot onely of hir grace,

In lufis ^ok, that esy is and sure,
In guerdoun fair of all my lufis space

Sche hath me tak, hir humble creature.

And thus befell my blisfull auenture,
In 3outh, of lufe, that now from day to 'day,
Flourith ay newe, and $it forthir, I say.

cxciv

Go litill tretise, nakit of eloquence,
Causing simplese and pouertee to wit,

And pray the reder to haue pacience
Of thy defaute, and to supporten it,
Of his gudnese thy brukilnese to knytt,

And his tong for to reulen and to stere,

That thy defautis helit may ben here.

cxcv

Allace ! and gif thou cummyst in the presence,
Quhare as of blame faynest thou wald be quite,

To here thy rude and crukit eloquens,
Quho sal be thare to pray for thy remyt ?
No wicht, bot geve hir merci will admytt

The for gud will, that is thy gyd and stere,

To quham for me thou pitousely requere.

CXCII. 7. I cum am and $it, S. ; cumen, W.
CXCIII. 3. eke, S. CXCIV. 6. reulen, S.

CXCV. i. cummyst ( = cum'st) in the presence, W. W. ; In presence, S

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 99

(192)

For to the presence suete and delitable
Rycht of this floure j?at full Is of plesance
By process* and by menys fauorable
First of J?e blisfull goddis pwrueyance
And syne throu long and trew contywuance
Of veray faitJi In lufe and trew smiice
I cumin am and forthir In this wis/

('93)

Vnworthy lo bot onely of hir grace

In lufis $ok that esy is and sure

In guerdoun of all my lufis space

Sche hath me tak hir humble creature

And thus befell my blisfull auenture

In 3outh of lufe that now from day to day

Flourith ay newe and $it forthir I say

('94)

Go litill tretis* nakit of eloquence
Causing simples* and pouertee to wit
And pray the reder to haue pacience
Of thy defaute and to supporten It
Of his gudnes* thy brukilnes* to knytt
And his tong for to reule and to stere
That thy defautis helit may ben here

(195)

Allace and gif thou cu;wmyst In J?e presence

Quhare as of blame faynest thow wald be quite

To here thy rude and crukit eloquens

Quho salbe thare to pray for thy remyt 0

No wicht bot geve hir merci will admytt

The for gud will that Is thy gyd aW stere

To quham for me thou pitous*ly requere

ioo THE KINGIS QUAIR— AMENDED TEXT

CXCVI

And thus endith the fatall influence,

Causit from hevyn, quhare power is commytt

Of gouirnance, by the magnificence
Of Him that hiest in the hevin sitt :
To Quham we thank that all oure lyf hath writt,

Quho coutht it red, agone syne mony a ^ere,

Hich in the hevynnis figure circulere.

cxcvn

Vnto the ympis of my maisteris dere,

Gowere and Chaucere, that on the steppis satt

Of rethorike, quhill thai were lyvand here,
Superlatiue as poetis laureate,
In moralitee and eloquence ornate,

I recommend my buk in lynis sevin,

And eke thair saulis vnto the blisse of hevin. Amen.

Explicit, &c. &c.
Quod Jacobus Primus, Scotorum Rex Illustrissimus.

CXCVI. 5. lifhath, S. CXCVII. i. the impnis, S.

CONCLUSION OF THE K1NGIS QUAIR WITH COLOPHON

To face p. 101.

THE KINGIS QUAIR— TEXT AS IN MS. 101

(196)

And thus endith the fotall Influence

Causit from hevyn quhare powar Is commytt

Of gouirnance by the magnificence

Of him that hiest In the hevin sitt

To quham we think that all oure hath writt

Quho coutht It red agone syne mony a 3ere

Hich In the hevywnis figure circulere

('97)

Vnto Inpnis of my masUris dere
Gowere and chaucere that on }>e steppis satt
Of rethorike quhill thai were lyvand here
Superlatiue as poetis laureate
In moralitee and eloquence ornate
I recommend my buk In lynis sevin
And eke thair saulis vnto }>e bliss* of hevm Amen

Explicit &c &c
Quod lacobus Primus scotorum rex Illustrissimus

POEM IN GUDE AND GODLIE
BALLAT1S.

SEN throw vertew Incressis dignitie,

And vertew is flour and rute of Nobles ay,

Of ony wit or quhat estate thow be,

His steppis follow, and dreid for none effray :

Eiect vice, and follow treuth alway, 5

Lufe maist thy God, that first thy lufe began,

And for ilk Inche he will the quyte ane span.

Be not ouir proude in thy prosperitie,

For as it cummis, sa it will pass away,

The time to compt is schort, thou may weill se, 10

For of grene gres sone cummis wallowit hay,

Labour in treuth, quhilk suith is of thy fay,

Traist maist in God, for he best gyde the can,

And for ilk Inche he will the quyte ane span.

Sen word is thrall, and thocht is only fre, 15

Thow dant thy toung, that power hes and may,
Thow steik thy Ene fra warldis vanitee,
Refraine thy lust, and harkin quhat I say,
Graip or thow slyde, and keip furth the hie way,
Thow hald the fast vpon thy God and man, 20

And for ilk Inche he will the quyte ane span.

Quod King James the First.

Bannatyne MS. 2. nobill-ray.

3. vertewis estait that evir. — Duplex reading, stait.

4. perse w . . the non. 5. Exyle all. 6. most. 7. the quyt a.
8. of. 9, so. 10. ma. 12. quhill licht is of the day.

13. most . . help. 14. as in 7. 15. wordis are.

17. thyne. 18. Refrene . . and harkin.

19. creip furth on the. 20. and keip thy faith thow aw to.

21. as in 7.

STANZAS 2 AND 3 BALLAD OF GOOD COUNSEL AS IN CAMBRIDGE MS.

To face p. 103.

BALLAD OF GOOD COUNSEL AS IN
CAMBRIDGE MS.

SEN trew Vertew encressis dignytee

And wertew floure and rut is of noblay,

Of ony weill, of quhat esstat thow bee,

His steppis sew, and dreid the non affray :

Exill all wyce, and folow treuthe al way : 5

Luf most thi god, that fyrst thi lust began,

And for ilk ynch he wyll the quyte a spane.

Sen word is thrall, and thocht is only free,

pow dant thi twnge, that powar has & may.

Thow set thine erne fra worldly vanitee, 10

Restren thi lust, and harkyne quhat I say.

Stramp, or )?ow slyd, and crep furt one the way ;

Kep thi behest one to thi lord, and thane

Fore ilk ynch he will the quyt aspane.

103

THE QUARE OF JELUSY

Here beginnith ]?e quare of lelusy
Avis*, 36 gudely folk**, and see.

THIS lusty mail, the quhich all tender flour/j

By nature nurisith with hir hote schoum,

The felde oureclad hath with ]?e tender grene

Quhich all depaynt with diu*?rs* hewis bene,

And euery thing makith to conuert

Agayn the stroke of winter cold and smert :

The samyn moneth and the sevynt Ide

The sonne, the quhich Ipat likith not to hyde

His course, ascending In the Orient

From his first gree, and forth his bemys sent, 10

Throu quhich he makith euery lusty hert

Out of thair sleuth to walkyn and astert

And vnto maii to done thair obseruance.

Tho fell It me In to remembrance

Athing ]?e quhich ]?at noyith me full sore

That for to rest auailith me no more ;

Bot walking furth vpoun the new grene,

Tho was the ayer sobir and amene,

And solitare, allone, without my fere,

Vnto a bonk, quhare as a small ryuere 20

Makith his course doun by a woddis syde,

Quhois levis fair did all the bewis hyde,

I past me furth, remem bring to and fro

All on this warldis changeing and his wo,

5. (sche) makitlj. 9. (ascendit). 14. rememb(e)rance.

15. A thing. 17. newe. 19. withoutyn fere.

104

BEGINNING OF QUARE OF JELUSY.

To /ace />. 104.

THE QUARE OF JELUSY 105

And namely on )?e suffrance and j?e peyne

Quhich most hath do my carefull hert constreyne :

The quhich as now me nedith not report.

For thare Is non that likith to support

Nor power has ; quharefor I will sustene,

And to no wicht I will compleyne nor mene, 30

Bot suffering furth as I haue done to fore

Myn hevynes and wo : quhat Is thare more ?

Wele long I walkit there, till at j?e last

Myn eye estward agayne the sonne I cast,

Quhare as I saugh among the lev is grene

A lady, quhich that was ryght wele besene,

And als fresch In hir beautee and array

As j>e bricht sonne at rising of j?e day.

Off coloure was sche lik vnto j?e ros*,

Boith quhite and red ymeynt ; ?jid I suppose 40

One gudliar* that nature neuir vrroght ;

Of lustyhede ne lakkit sche ryght noght.

My spirit coud noght resemble hir, nor gesse,

Bot vnto Dyane, or sum hie goddesse.

And preuely I hid me of entent

Among the levis to here quhat sche ment.

And forth a passf sche walkit sobirly,

There as I was ; and passing cam so ny

That I persauit haue vpoun hir chere

The cristall tern falling from hir eyne clere. 50

It semyt wele that wo hir hert constreynit,

Sche sorowit, sche sikit, sche sore compleynit ;

So sobirly sche spak that I no myght

Not here one word quhat j?flt sche said zryght :

Bot wele I herd sche cursit preualy

The cruell vice of caustics lelousy.

Sche wepit so a quhile, till at }?e last

With that hir woce and eyne to hevin sche cast

And said : " goddesse Imeneus ! thou rewe

32. Myne. 43. spreit. 4.6. herC.

50. fall from hir eyCn.

io6 THE QUARE OF JELUSY

Of me, In to the dangerous^ bound of newe 60

Ycome ; allace ! quhich be the caus* ]>at I

Am turment thus, withoutyn caus*? or quhy,

So sudaynly vnder ^oure strong lowe ;

For It the quhich Is vnto me vnknowe :

As als sekirly here In thy presence,

Geue euirmore I didin suich offence

M

The scha£p deth mote perce me throuch ]?e hert

So that on fute from hens I neuir astert :

Nor neuirmore It was In myn entent,

Thare of I am both hole and Innocent. 70

And, gif I say fals*, Pluto fat Is king,

Quhich the derk regioun hath in his gowrnyng,

Mote me In to his fyry cart do ta,

As quhilom did he to Proserpina :

And thare my body and my soule also

With him ay duell In torment and In wo.

O Dyane ! goddesse of fredome and of ese,

Vnder quhom I haue bot thraldome and disese,

Litill of treuth, of gladness, or plesance,

So helpith me agayn this wary it chance. 80

For of this gilt thou knowis wele my part,

And lupiter that knowith euery hart

Wote that I am sakeles*, me defende !

Ne for no want nor for to haue commend

Not say I this, for here nys non bot ^e,

Of thilk hid thing that knowith ]?e veritee ;

And sen thou wote ]>at my complaynt Is treuth,

Off pitee than compassioun haue and reuth ;

My life to gone mak on ane othir dance,

Or me delyuer of this warldis chance ; 90

Quhich Is to say that efter, as I deserue,

That I may lyve, or sodaynly to sterue."

And thus apoun the goddis can sche crye,

And euir among sche cursit lelousye ;

63. stronge. 65. Als sekirly as ; And als, B.

66. did ane, did in, B. 67. scharpe. 72. in gouernyng.

78. Off quhom. 83. And wote. 86. Of ilk.

THE QUARE OF JELUSY 107

With that sche sichit with a ryght pitous<? chere :

Allace ! gret reuth hir pleynyng was to here ;

Hir coloure, quhich that was so fair to sene,

It changit oft, and wexit pale and grene.

Hir to behold thare was no gentill hert

Than he schuld haue compassioun of hir smert, IOO

To sene from hir lusty eyne auaille

The glett^ring tern, als thik as ony haile,

As thai descendet, from the ayr abone

Vpoun the lusty colourit ros* in lune,

Quhen thai ar fairest on thair stalk/5 newe ;

So was the ter/V vpoun hir fresch hewe.

Allace hir chere ! allace hir countenance !

For to behald It was a grete pen nance.

And as I was vprising for to go

To confort hir and counsele of hir wo, no

So come one othir lady, hir allone,

The nerrest way vnto hir Is sche gone :

And one thai tuo ysamyn gan to fare,

Bot quhens thai past I can noght you declare.

Bot quhen that thai out of my sicht were gone,

And I in wod belevit me allone,

My goste hath take In sad remembering

This ladies chere and wofull compleynyng,

Quhich to my hert sat full very nere ;

And to my selfe I thoght In this manere: I2O

Quhat may this mene ? quhat may this signifie ?

I can noght wit quhat is the caus<? or quhy

This lady suffrit this strong aduersitee ;

For, as me think, In erde suld no thing be

Possible to ony wicht of wele willing

As ony richest or hert/j cherising,

And euery thing according to plesance,

Than sche thare of suld haue full suffisance

To gladin hir and plesyn with thair chere,

Bot deth of lufe or deth of frendis dere, 130

ioo. Bot he. 101. sene. 106. fresche.

116. I above line in MS. 119. herte. 123. suffrith.

125. wele-willing. 128. That sche.

io8 THE QUARE OF JELUSY

Quhich is Inpossible for to bring ageyn.
For thing possible, me thing, sche suld

pleyne ;

For sche for fairhede and for suete having
Myght wele accorde for ony wicht lyving.
Bot tho It fell In to my fantasy
How sche so oftsys* cursit lelousy :
Than thouth I thus : gife lyvis ony wicht
Quhich fynd In to his cherlisch hert mjght
Thus for to turment suich one creature,
To done hir wo, to done hir payne endure : 140

Now wele I wote It Is no questioun
There lyveth none In to )?is erth adoun,
Bot he cuflzmyn of sum cherlisch kynd,
For othir wayis, forsuth, I can no^t fynd
He suich one lady wold In ony way disples^,
Or harme to do to hir honour or hir es* :
Be as be may, ^it my consate me gevith
This lelousye, the quhich ]>at sche repreuith,
Annoyith hir : and so It may wele be
Ofe euill condicioun euirmore Is he, 150

As fe Deuill ay birnyng In to hate,
Full of discorde and full of fres<? consate.
How euir It stonde, ^it for this ladies sak
Samekle occupacioun schall I tak
Furth with for to syttyn doun and writt
Of lelouse folk sum thing In to dispitt ;
And quho be wroth, or quho be blith, here I
Am he the quhich that sett no thing thareby.
For ladyes schall no caus* haue, gif I may,
Thame to disples* for no thing schall I say 160

And gif I do, It Is of negligence
And lak of cownyng and of eloquence,

131. impossible. 132. me think. 133. suete-having.

137. tho^t ; thoucht, B. 138. herte.

143. Bot he be, B. 145. one and in redundant.

146. to after karme, and do both written above line, to redundant.

152. ferse. 154. Samekle. 155. Als furthwith.

THE QUARE OF JELUSY 109

For It Is no thing in to myn entent

To say the thing schall mak thame discontent :

Nor }it no faithfull lover to disples^,

Nor schewe nothing In contrare of thair es*,

Nor of no wicht of gude cond^cioun,

Bot of this wickit ymaginacioun,

Quhich by his name Is clepit lelousye,

That euery louere hatith of Inuy ; 170

And thouch all suich were wode in thair entent

As Hercules^, quhen he him seluen brent,

Or cursit Nero, quhen he his p^rile sawe,

Of his own hond ymurderit and yslawe.

Ne rek I not, nor geve I of thame charge,

Lat thame go saile all in j?e Deuillis barge :

And quhethir thay flete or In to hell synk

3it schall I writen eftir as I think.

And ^e louer/j ]?at stondith furth In treuth,

Menyt eke, compassioun haue and reuth, 180

How ladies evill demanit ar oftsys*

By this foule wrech : go ! helpith him dispis*,

And to compleyne thair treuth and Innocence,

That mekle suffrith throuch thair owin pacience :

And of my termes and my rude endite

Excusith me, sett thai be Inperfyte,

Beseking $ou at lovis hie reuerence,

Takith gude will in stede of eloquence.

For as I can, non othir wys* I may,

Thus I begyn, and on this wis* I say. 190

O tendir 3outh, ]?at stant In Innocence,
Grundid on treuth, sadnes, and pacience,

Wommen I mene, all vicis contempnyng,
That void I bene of euery violews,
And full of pitee and beneuolence,

177. do synk. 180. Inuyit eke. 181. Displeis, B.

191. Stand, B. 194. ay bene j ay, B.

no THE QUARE OF JELUSY

Humble and wise, ryght sobir and bening,
And full of merci vnto euery thing
In suffrance, scant of mony grete offense,
Full paciently In to this erth lyving

Vnder thraldome and mawnis subiectioun : 20O

And mekly suffrith thair correctioun.

Allace, ]?e wo ! allace, )?e sad greuance !
3e suffering men of euill condicioun,
Quhich hath no pitee and lakkith discrecioun,

And bene ysett vnder thair gouirnance.

3oure suffering thare Is mony one hard mischance, *-
3oure fairhede goth, jour 3outh Is broght a doun

With weping tern ay full of strong penance.

LouenV compleyne, and euery gentill wicht 210

Help for to mene, help for to waill a ryght ;

Compassioun haue, and reuth vpoun ]?e nede,
In helping and supporting at your myght
Thame quhich j?at of ^oure gladness is ]?e licht,

That Is to say all lusty womanhede,

Quhich $ou In lufe and cheualry doth fede
But quhom this warldis gladness from his hicht

Schold sone avale and fallyn out of drede.

In to this erth quhat Is our gladness here,
Iff that we lak J>e presence and )?e chere

Of thame that bene this wordis hole plesance ? 22O

Quhat ar we worth, gif that thair help ne were ?
All vertuous* wowman Salamon holdith dere,

And mekle worth of thair gouirnance :

Thai ar oure es^, thai ar oure suffisance :
From vicious^ wowmen passith my matere,

Thai most all gone apoun one othir dance.

198. ony grete. 203. sufferen $ In suffering, B.

220. worldis $ warldis, B. 223. worth is.

THE QUARE OF JELUSY 1 1 1

Allace, the wo ! (quho can it specify ?)
That wojwmen suffren ay withoutyn quhy

Into this erth In dangere and In vere ;
And to recist agaynis tyranny 230

Is no Defense ; thai haue to pas thareby

Bot weping with the tern of thair chere,

With syking, wailling, pleyning, and prayere ;
And euerich thing sustene thai paciently :

Thus livith ay thir sely women here.

This mene I all be wickit men oftsys^,
That giltles dooth thir ladies to supprys*

Withoutyn caus* of ony man^r thing,
And namely, by thair varyit tyrawnyis,
The cruelteis, the wikkitnes ]>at lyis 240

In lelousy and fals* ymagynyng,

Quhich harmyth all this world by his demyng,
Of quhom I think sum thing to deuis*

And schewe to $ou here eftir my connyng.

Quho schall me help, allace ! for to endite,
For to be waill, to compleyne, aW to write

This vice that now so large is and commoun ?
What sail I say ? quhom sail I awite ?
For hie nor law Is non estate to quite,

Now all hath fele of thilke poysoun._ 250

Allace ! this fals* and wickit condicioun
The lustyhede and euery glade delyte

Hath of y\s world full nere ybroght a doun.

For in )?e tyme was of oure eld^ris old
Quhen lelousy abhomiwable was hold,

Quhare ofe eschamith euery noble wy,
Than was thir ladies eu^r In honour hold,
Thair lustyhede, quhich causith mony fold

130. agaynis. 237. thair. 243. for to deuise.

246. bewaill. 248. and quhom. 253. adoun.

ii2 THE QUARE OF JELUSY

Fredome, gentri^, disport, and cheualry :
Thai syng, thai dance, and makith company. 260

Thame to defame was non ]?flt durst nor wold,
As now thai do withoutyn caus^ or quhy.

And }it I wote ]?ir ladies bene echone
Als trew and sad as ony tyme aygone,

And ar to blame als litill or repreue ;
Bot now thai mon thame vttirly dispone
To duell as doth ]?e anker In ]?e stone,

Yf that thai think vndemyt for to leve ;

So fast encressyn can this fals^ beleue
That In this world fewe ladyes ar, or none, 270

Quhich schall vnsclandmt from his tong escheve.

For ife sche makith chere or company,
As they were wount, he raisith vp his cry ;

And yfe sche loke, he lugith of hir thoght ;
And sett sche loke or speke vnto no wy,
Bit euill he demith In his fantasy ;

And be sche glad or wele besene In oucht,

This tyrane saith It Is nat do for nocht.
Allace ! by him the harm withoutyn ony quhy

Is euery day In to this world ywroght. 280

And ife a spouse stant with this vice, I wys
All thing is said, all thing Is wroght amys

In his consate ; and gif that ony way
Fro home he goth, his spy he schall noght mys,
That feynith tailis, no thing as It Is,

To plesyn him, for sum thing mon he say :

Than goth all rest, than goth all pes away ;
Farewele of lufe the gladness and )?e blis,

Fro he cum home als ferfuth as he may.

264. agone ; ygone. 279. ony redundant, B.

281. scant, B. 285. ^it no. 289. ferfurth, B.

THE QUARE OF JELUSY 113

And }it to hir Is double wo and grame, 290

For thouch that he be gilty In J?e same

Full mony a lady nothing dare sche say ;
And $it thir ladies In lelousy to blame
Ar noght as men, for men haith now no schame

To be In love as double as J?ai may :

Thir ladies thus full mony a caus* haue thay ;
And thouch he speke, It hindmt noght his name ;

And ife sche loke, It harmith hir all way.

This may be clept a wrech in till his mynd,

For, as we may In old bukis fynd, 300

In lak of hert ay stant this maladye.
To him )?e quhich supposith aye behind,
And verreis to stond in lufis kynd,

For Salamoun saith " ane noble hert nor eye

Haith to enquere of ladis, nor espye,
Nor thame misdeme In to thair treuth vnkind,"

As doth this wrech, \a\. hot is lelusye ;

Off quhom In to <:0«tempnyng and dispite
My will is gude for to declare and wr/te,

Suppose of wit I empty be and bare ; 310

Thou Ecco ! quhich of chiding Is p<?rfyte,
I the beseke thou helpith me to flyte,

And Thesiphone, thou lord of wo and care,

So helpith me this mater to declare
On lelousy his malice to acquyte

With the supplee of euery trewe lufare.

Here efter folowis the trety In the reprefe of lelousye. —

The passing Clerk, the grete philosophoure

Sydrake, enspirit of hevinly Influence,
Quhich holdyn was In to his tyme J?e floure

Of clergy, wis^dome, and intelligence, 320

In to his buk/j declarith this sentence

297. hinderith. 300. Into. 303. for (?) to stond.

305. Hatith ... or. 306. Or ... vnto.

1 14 THE QUARE OF JELUSY

To Bokas King, amang his doctrins sere,
Off lelousy, and saith In this manere.

He clepith It foly of one Ignorant,

The quhich euill humom makith to precede,

As hert corrupt, or, quho It list to hant,
Malancholy. It raisith vp, but drede,
That lust of slepe, of mete, or drink of dede ;

And wit of man confusith It all plane

With this hote feuir that Is cotidiane. 330

And suth It Is by resoun as we fynd

That this suspicioun and this lelousye
Is and cumwith of ]?e veray kynd

Of Herubus, the quhich \a\. of Invye

The fad^r is, and be this resoun quhy
For euirmore In rancoure and in Ire
As Ethena he birnyth in j?e fyre.

Thus with ]?e cheyne of sorow Is he bound

Furth in this world full of aduersitee,
His frendschip to no wicht It schall be found. 340

Quhy in him self ay at debate is he,

Withoutyn lufe, withoutyn cheritee ?
In his consate and his ymagynyng
Ay to the worst he demith euery thing,

That in this erth lyueth thare no wicht

Of no condicioun nor of no degree,
In his presence ]?at wisedome has nor micht

To reule himself In ony wyse than he

Schall deme thareof amys, yset he be

Als chaste, als trew, and reule him self als wele 350

As euir hath do fe prophete Daniele.

333. Is born. 345. 31! lyueth.

THE QUARE OF JELUSY 115

For euery thoght and luke and countenance

Suspect he holdith In to his demyng,
And twrnyth all to harm and to mischance.

This tygir with his fals* ymagynyng

lith as a deuill In to this erth lyving,
Contenyng aye In anger and In hate,
Both with him self and otheris at debate.

But cheritee thus euirmore he levith,

Quhich Crist of wedding clepith the habyte, 360

But quhilk of hevin euery wicht beleuyth,

But of fe bliss* and of )?e fest Is quyte.

And Paule thus to j?e Corinthies doth write
Off faith, of hope, and eke of cheritee ;
The last fe most he clepith of j?e thre.

And he declarith In )?e samyn chapture
That thouch men be as angelis eloquent,

Or all thair gudis gyvith to )?e pure,

Or 311 for Crist ysuffering suich turment

To be yslawe, ymartmt, or brent, 370

Or doth all gude the quhich fat may be wro^/Jt,

And lakkith cheritee, all It auailit noght.

And euery wicht, fat hath discrecioun, wote
That quho thus lyvith In to lelousye,

In Ire and malice birnyth ay full hote,
From worldis loy and hevinly companye
Excludit an? thus throw thair fals* Inuye ;

And oft thareof cutfzmith mischance

As strife, debate, slauchter, and vengeance ;

Quhare of I coud ane hundreth samplis tell 380

Of stories olde the quhich I lat oure go ;

And als that In this tyme present befell,
Amongis quhilk we fynd how one of tho
His lady sleuch and syne him selfe also.

369. ysufferen. 372. auailith noght. 375. birnyng.

378. thare cummith suich, B.

n6 THE QUARE OF JELUSY

In this Ilk lond withoutyn ony quhy
But onely for his wickit gelousy.

Off quhich full mony ensample may we fynde
Of olde ygone and new experiment,

That quho this gilt hauntith In his mynd

It hath been cause quhy mony one were schent, 390
Sum sleuch him self and sum of euill entent

From Innocentis bereving oft ]?e lyfe,

Sum sleuch his lady and other sum his wife.

And lelousye hath euir suich a tong

That from the malice of his hert pr0cedith,

By quhich that sclander wyde quhare is rong

And Crist he saith, " ]>at quhom of sclander dredith
Wo be to him !" and, more, vnto him bedith

Away the sclanderous* member for to kerue,

Quhich dampnyth 30^ eternaly to sterue. 400

And the first verteu, as poetis can declare,
Is tong with wysedome to refreyne and stere,

Quhich vnto god Is nerest euirmare ;

And Salamoun saith, " fer better \a\. It were
Allone to duell with lyozms, than be nere

A sclanderouse tong of chiding and of hate :"

So odiouse he holdith suche debate.

A poete saith " that neuir more Is pes,
Quhare suich a tong hath dominacioun,

Nor ^it the tong the quhich Ipat can noght ces , 410

Ay schewing his euill ymagynacioun,
And hath of langage no more discrecioun

Than he the quhich ]>at talkith in his slepe ;

Nor vnto him aucht no wicht takyn kepe."

389. into. 396. wydequhare ; wyde (al) quhare, B.

403. evirmore, B.

THE QUARE OF JELUSY 117

Approvit Is by resoun and scripture
Of Crist and his apostlis euirilkone,

By prophetis, doctour/;, poet/V, and nature,

Offquhom this vice, of quhom this gilt Is tone,
And quhens he cu^mith and quhid^r he schall
gone,

Quhich Is to say, ]>at lelousy, at schort, 420

Cojwmyth of )?e deuill, and thedir schall resort.

As onys of one Empmmre we rede,
One haly man, and clepit was Henry,

In prayer, fasting, and in almous* dede ;
And for no caus^ hot for his lelousy e,
The quhich he caucht, and for non othir quhy,

Vpoun his lufe trew and Innocent,

Efter his deth he come to Iuge*ment.

And thare, as In to reuelacioun

Till one of oure fadms old was sene, 430

He had ressauit his owin dampnacioun
For j?e Ilk gilt of lelusy, I mene,
Had noght Laurence the blisfull martyr bene

By merci of oure blisfull salvatoure :

Suich Is ]?e fyne of all )?is fals* erroure.

And quhare, of long, It hath bene said or this
" That of hote lufe ay curamith lelousye,"
* That sentence Is interpret to amys ;

And, schortly said, noght vnderstand )>e quhy.

For It Is noght for to presume thareby 440

That lelousye, quhich is of vice )?e ground,

Is in to lufe or in a lufare found.

For lelousy, the quhich of lufe j>0t usith,
Is clept nothing bot of a simple drede,

As quhen thir lufam remembrith and avisith,
Sum of thair wo and sum apoun thair nede,
And sum of gladness \at doth of lufe precede

425. his false, B. 427. So trew j Baith trew, B.

428. cometh, B. 430. old taderis It.

432. For thilke gilt (?). 444. clepit, B. 447. glaidness, B.

n8 THE QUARE OF JELUSY

Throuch quhich thair hertz'j brynt ar In ]?e fyre,
Sum of grete raddoure and sum of hote desire.

That euery thing thai doubt \a\. may thame make 450

Of lufe ]?e grettest plesance to for go,
Throuch quhich sum lufaris hath suich drede ytake

That It to thame Is hevynes and wo ;

Bot natw/'t/jstonding ay thai reule thame so
Thair drede It Is to euery wicht vnknowe,
Thame likith not to sclander nor to schowe.

Thir lelousyis full diuerse ar of kynd,

The tone It harmith to no creature
Bot secrete ded and symple, as we fynd

That lufaris In to lufing most endure, 460

That othir bereth all one othir cure,
He sclandmth, feynyth, defamith, and furth criyth,
And lufe and euery lufar he Inuyith.

O wofull wrech and wickit euill consate !

O fals^ suspicioun, nurist full of hate,

In hevin and erth ]?i harm is boith ywritte !

O cruell serpent aye leving In awayte !

O scland^rous* tong, fy on thy dissayte !

Quhare that thou lovith thou feynyth, }>at ypocrite,
That thou art lelous* lufe thow gevith j?e wyte : 470

Thou leis thare of, as ]?rft I schall declare

To vnderstand to euery trewe lufare.

For euery wicht \a\. Is with lufe ybound,
And sad and trewe In euery faith yground,

Syne likith noght to varye nor eschewe.
Rather suffer schall he ]?e dethis wound
Than In to him schall ony thing be found

That to this lady may displease or greue,

Or do to hir or to hir fame reprefe,

451. forgo. 454- noghtwithstanding, B.

4.56. noght, B. 459- dred (0-

467. lying In awayte. 468. fy, fy on. 469. thou ypocrite.

474. verray farth. 478. his lady, B. 479. Or to do, B.

THE QUARE OF JELUSY 119

For his desire is althir most to se 480

Hir stand In honoure and in prosperitee.

And contrair this thy cursit violence
Staunt ay for quhy : )>i sclandmms* offense

Harmith thy lady most of ony wy,
Quhich stryvith euir agayn hir Innocence
That hath no suerd hot suffrance aW pacience
For to resist agaynis hir Inymy,
The quhich thou art ; and be ]?/s resoun quhy :
Thou virkith that quhich may hir most anoye,
That Is to say, hir worschip to distroye. 490

For cuery lady of honour and of fame
Less* settith of hir deth than hir gud name ;

Oft be experiment prouith It Is so
Off mony o lady, quhich done j?e same,
Rather chesyn can thair deth than blame,

So lovyn thai thair honoure euirmo.

Fy on j>e, wrech ! fy on J>e, lufis fo !
That for to scland^r hath no schame nor drede
The Innocence and fame of womanhede.

Quhat helpith )?e be clepit hir lovare, $00

Syne doith all thing )?tft most is hir contrare ?
Quhat smiyth It ? quhat vaillith It of ocht ?

For go thy lady schall thou euirmare ;

And set hir cors* be thine, $it I declare
Hir hert Is gone, It s^ruyth J?e of nor At,
Thare is no lufe quhare ]>at such thing is wror/rt ;

And thouch sche wold, It Is, as thou may fynd,

Contrair to lufe, to resoun, and to kynd.

Thus of Y\ lady makis thou thy fo,

Quhois hert of resoun most thou nede forgo 510

Be thyne owin gilt : may nothing It appese ;

4.83. Staunt ay ; for quhy, B. 487. resiste, B.

493. provit. 494. a, hath done, B. 495. And rather.

497. Fy on the wrech ! B. 502. Quhat sayith, B. 503. Forgo.

120 THE QUARE OF JELUSY

And euery othir lady schall also
Ensample tak to aduenture euirmo

Vnder thine bond thair honowr or thair es<? ;

And yfe thai do suppose thai haue dises^,
Quho schall thame mene of weping eve and morovve,
Quhich seith to fore sen rywnyth on thair sorowe ?

To euery lady schortly I declare

That thare thou art beith thare neuirmare

Rest nor quyete, treuly to conclude, 520

Nor grace, nor es^, nor lyving In welefare,
Bot euery thing of gladness In his contrare.

For barane ay thou art and destitude
Off euery thing that soundith vnto gude :

A lady rather schuld hir deth ytake
Than suich a wrech till have on to hir make.

Quhare is )?i wit or thy discrecioun
Quhich be thine euill ymaginacioun

In sewing thingis the quhich ]>at bene vnknewe ?
Quhat helpith the thy fals^ suspicioun ? 530

Or quhat auailith thy wickit condicioun

To sayne or done J?#t thou most efter rewe ?

O nyce foole, thine owin harm for to schewe !
Drink noght j?e poysoun sene to fore thine eye,
Lest thou corrupt and venymyt be thare by.

For yf )?e lestith as thou hath begonne
Of lelousy to drinkyn of ]?e tonne,

Thare thy confusioun sene is )?e before,
Thou wo yneuch vnto thy self hath wonne :
Fare wele of lufe, thy fortune is yronne, 540

Thy ladyis dangere hath tho« euirmore ;

For thy condicioun greueth hir so sore
And all )?i lufe furth driuith in penance
With hevynes, and suffering grete mischance.

513. neuirmo. 519. quhare thou art, B. 522. In contrare.

526. onto. 529. Is sewing. 533. nyce, sewe (?). 543. lyfe (?).

THE QUARE OF JELUSY 121

For It hath bene and aye schall be also

Throuch lelousy : In angir and In wo
Enduryn schall thy wrechit cursit life

Yfret ryght by the suerd of cruell syte a two :

Thy stormy thoght ay walking to and fro

As doth )?e schip among )>e wawis dryve, 550

And noght to pas and note quhare to aryve,

Bot ay in drede furth sailith eve aW morowe,

So passith thou thy world is course In sorowe.

(3it) scharp wo doth so \\ dredfull goste bete

(That a)s )>e tree is by the wormis frete
(So) art thou here ay wastit ?jid ybrent,

(An)d birnyng as )?e tigir ay In hete.

(Qu)ho lyvth nowe ]>at can }?i wo repete ?

(And of ) thy selfe thou suffrith such torment,
(M)oving to deth ay in )?in owen ententj 560

(Thi)ne owin harm consumith J?e and anoyith,

(And eke) ]?i body and \\ soule distroyith.

(For) sith It is thou failith not one of two,

(Th)at Is to say, Into this erth : In wo
Ay to endure, therefter to be schent

(Eterna)ly withoutyn ony ho :

(And wele) accordith It for to be so.
(He) is thy lord : the fader of haterent,
(Fro) quhens that cutfzmith euery euill entent,

(Quhoi)s luve thou ay full besyly £0»s*ruith, 570

(For) thy desert rewardith the aW s^ruith.

549. waltering. 551. and note to pas, B.

554-573- Here are occasional defects in MS. The lacuna are supplied by

Bannatyne Club editor as noted below.
554. For, B. (scharp wo doth so thi dredfull goste ybete).
555556. as in Text. 557. (fyir). 559. Bot in.

560. Leving. 561. Thyne. 562. And both.

563. Bann. ed. (Bot.) suth (?). 564. As in Text.

565. Still to endure. (B. E.)

566-575. As in Text except 568 where quho is supplied.
569. thare cummith. 570. consumith, B.

122 THE QUARE OF JELUSY

(Thu)s may ]>ou fynd \a\. proffit Is thare non
(In le) lousy : tharefore thou ]?e dispone,

my counsele Is playnly ; and for see
This fantasy to leve, quhich thow hath tone ;
And furth among gud falouschip thou gone,

lyving In es<? and In prosperitee

And love, and eke with ladies lovit be ;
gif so }>e likith not, I can no more.

Thus I conclude, schortly ; as for me 580

Quho hath J?e worst I schrew him euirmore.

3ou louem all ryght hertly I exhort

This litill write helpith to support,

Excusith It, and tak no man^r hede

To the endyte ; for It most bene of nede,

Ay simpill wit furth schewith sympilnes^

And of vncownyng cuwmith aye rudnes^.

Bot sen here ar no termes eloquent

Belevith the dyte and takith J?e entent,

Quhich menyth all In contrair lufis fo, 590

And how thir ladies twrment bene in wo

And suffrith payne and eke gret violence

Into thair treuth and in thair innocence,

As daily be experience may be sene ;

The quhich, allace ! grete harm Is to sustene.

Thus I conclude with pitous* hert and meke,

To euery god j?#t regnyth I beseke

Aboue the erth, ]?e watir, or )?e aire,

Or on }?e fire, or ^it In wo and care,

Or 3it in turment, slauchter, or mischance, 600

Or mycht or power hath to done vengeance

In to ]?is erth, or wickitnes* distroye :

That quho thir ladyis likith to anoye,

574. thou forsee, B. 580. and schortly.

583. write. 589. Levith.

****^* c -

CLOSE OF QUA RE OF JELUSY, WITH COLOPHON.

To face p. 123.

THE QUARE OF JELUSY 123

Or $it thare fame or $it thaire es* engrewe,
mote suffryn here and fallyn grete mischewe
In to this erth, syne w/t/j j>e falouschip of hell
In body and soule eternaly mot duell.

Explicit Quod auch — .

APPENDIX

A. — DATE OF THE CAPTURE OF KING JAMES I.

MR. BROWN has conclusively proved that James was seized by the
English in the spring of 1406. This might have been evident, in
spite of the errors of Wyntoun and others, if their readers had
noted that there was no dispute about the date of the King's
return to Scotland in 1424, and that the almost unvarying
testimony was that he had been a prisoner for eighteen years.
Confirmation of the year of capture is given by an interesting
document in Rymer headed Pro Mercatoribus Scotiae. It is of
date September 3, 1406, seventh year of the reign of Henry IV.
It has another interesting aspect. It gives a glimpse of the attitude
of Albany and of the English King. King James is never alluded
to, but that it is his capture that led to the loss of Scottish gear
can scarcely be doubted, as his captors were of Clay ; and the
probability is that John Jolyf with his many attorneys was the
leader of the enterprise.

"The King to his beloved John Remys, Esquire, William
Brygge, James Billyngford, and Thomas Stodehawe, Attorneys
of John Jolyf of Clay and his fellows, as is said, and to each one
of them greeting :

" On the part of the Rothesay King-at-Arms of Scotland,
Commissioner-General for the King and Kingdom of Scotland
with respect to all attacks made, as is said, upon the sea after the
beginning of a truce agreed upon between Us and those of Scotland,
a petition has been made to Us that —

" Whereas divers contracts between you and the aforesaid
Rothesay are in existence with respect to the delivery of certain

124

APPENDIX 125

goods and merchandise of divers merchants, lately taken upon
the sea by the aforesaid John Jolyf and his fellows,

" According as by certain Indentures thereafter made between
you and the aforesaid Rothesay, as is said, it shall possibly more
fully appear :

"Which agreements indeed, according to the form of the
aforesaid Indentures, you have delayed, and still delay to imple
ment, to the no little loss of these merchants,

" That We may be willing graciously to provide for a remedy
in this respect

" We, unwilling that in this matter justice should be delayed
with regard to these merchants, command you that, if it is so, you
on your part then cause to be firmly observed and kept all and
each of the agreements contained in the aforesaid Indentures in
so far as ye are bound according to the tenor of the Indentures
aforesaid.

" Holding yourselves in such wise and so justly in the Premises
that the same Rothesay, on the part of the said merchants, should
have no cause on this account to have further recourse to Us.

" The King witnessing at the town of Leicester on the third
day of September

« By the King Himself."

B. — THE MURDER OF KING JAMES I.

The simplest record is that given by Bower in the Scotichronicon,
and for this part of his work the historian is a contemporary
writer. He is brief, giving few details. The most elaborate
account is contained in The Dethe of the Kynge of Scotts. It is a
translation from a Latin original by an English subject, John
Shirley, and from it have been derived all the picturesque details
usually given in histories of the King's journey to Perth, his
meeting with a Highland woman who warned him again and
again of his danger, of the last night of his life and of his great
strength and courage in the struggle with his murderers. Shirley's
narrative gives also minute details of the torture and death of the
leading conspirators. It is a moving story, and, without doubt,
some of the particulars must be authentic. But on many points it

126 APPENDIX

is evidently mythological, especially in the dialogue between the
King and his murderers in the cellar where he had sought refuge.
James is represented as pleading for his life, and offering half his
kingdom to Sir Robert Graham if he will spare him. Next to
its art, the most striking feature of this account is the writer's
admiration of Graham. In his plotting, in his actual conflict, in
his willingness at the last to shew mercy, and in his spirited
defence at his trial he is painted as more heroic than criminal.
The story is rounded off with a moral : " And thus endyn thes
sorofull and pitous cronycles ; and alle men saye that the
unsacionable covtise was the ground cause of the Kynges dethe.
Tharefore prynces shuld take hede and drawe it to thare memorie
of Maistre Johanes de Moigne counsell, thus said yn Frenche

langage,

II nest pas sires de sone pays,
Quy de son peple (n) est amez,"

(Maitland Club volume.)

Among other facts mentioned is this : the papal legate was
confessor of the criminals.

The account in the Chronicon is short. The statement about
the bravery of Katharine Gordon is found in Boece.

C. — THE SCRIBES OF THE Two QUAIRS.

Much light would be thrown on the authorship of the Kingis
Quair, if the actual date of transcription and, still more, if the
identity of the transcribers could be determined. Dr. George
Neilson, Glasgow, a highly accomplished scholar in Middle Scots
and in Scottish history, discussed the personality of the chief scribe
in an Athenceum special article — December 16, 1899 — and he came
to the conclusion that the scribe was James Graye, secretary
successively to Archbishop Schevez and the Duke of Ross, and
illuminator of the MS. of the Scotichronicon copied in 1480 by
John Ramsay. Dr. Neilson gave it also as his opinion that Graye
was the scribe of all the earlier portion of the MS. except the
entry on folio 191 verso about the authorship and title of the
Quatr. His chief grounds for believing that Graye was the scribe
are the similarity of the handwriting to that of the Gray MS.,

APPENDIX 127

and the fact that the entry about the birth of James IV., on
folio 1 20, is repeated in an abbreviated form on folio 2O verso
of the Gray MS. in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh. (Graye
is probably the Jacobus Gray whose name is on the St. Andrews
University Register as a determinant in 1470, and a licentiate in
Arts in 1472.)

On such a matter, without special qualification, it is not wise to
be dogmatic. Personally, I am disposed to agree with Dr. Neilson
that the Gray MS. and Arch. Selden B. 24, from folio 2 to 191
verso except the entry on the last page, are in the same hand
writing, such differences as exist being due to the very minute
character of the script of the Gray MS. Mr. W. K. Dickson,
Advocates' Librarian, who kindly gave me the benefit of his
special knowledge, is of a different opinion. He thinks it probable
that the first scribe of the Quair was also the scribe of the earlier
portion of the MS. volume. On the other hand Dr. Maitland
Thomson, the former head, and the Rev. John Anderson, the
present head of the Scottish Record Office, are emphatically
against Dr. Neilson's opinion on this point. These experts are
doubtful about the second scribe of the Kingis Quair being also the
scribe of the Quare of Je/usy, but they are for rather than against.
Mr. Dickson and Mr. Maitland Anderson are unfavourable, and
in this opinion I concur. Dr. W. A. Craigie (see Athenaum,
December 30, 1899) gives it as his opinion that the scribe of
folio I and the scribe of the greater part of the Quair are the
same, folios 2-191 being by a different hand. On two points only
is there absolute agreement. There were two scribes of the Quair,
and the scribe of the entry on folio 191 verso was a different
person from any of the other scribes of the volume and wrote
later, being possibly one of the owners of the book. There is one
additional fact. On folio 120, almost an inch below the note
about the birth of James IV., are the initials J.R.

THE references to individual poems are for the most
part given by initial letters : T. G., Temple of Glas ;
Q. J., Quare of Jelusy j R. R., Romaunt of the Rose.
The minor poems of Lydgate and other fifteenth-
century Chaucerians are mentioned by name and are
quoted as in Professor Skeat's supplementary Chaucer
volume, Reson and Sensuallyte, and Lancelot of the Laik
as in E. E. T. S. editions.

NOTES TO THE KINGIS QUAIR

I. 2. Concord and poet's evident reference to past seem to demand pret.
"twynklyt." Similar use of pres. part, in Q. J. 1. 9. 3. " Citherea "
may have been written by poet though Cinthia is meant : vid. Chaucer's
P. F. 113. 4. "Lyte" is the common qualification of " tofore "j vid.
II. 2. 7. "And" is necessary for sense and rhythm. "North-north
west " is from Chaucer P. F. 1 17 :

As wisly as I say the north-north-west.

Opening as a whole is modelled on Temple of Glast and the meaning is
that the poet had this experience in the month of January when the moon
was full, which shortly before in the month of December had, as a new
moon, shewn herself in crescent form. Wischmann interprets both
" twynklyng " and " rynsid " as participles, and he supposes that some
verb such as " stood " is to be supplied in thought : " The rody sterres
(stood) twynklyng." "Rynsid her tressis" he holds to be an absolute
construction. Dr. Skeat's acceptance of " twynklyng " as a provincial or
dialectal form of "twynklen" has much to commend it. In Q. J. 369
" y-suffering " occurs for " y-suffren," and this form is common in L. L.
Whole opening may also be compared with beginning of Henryson's
Testament ofCresseid. In The Pis till of Susan, 192, 193, we have :

Hir here was jolow as wyre
Of gold fynyd with fyre.

II. 6, 7. "Wherefore as I could then choose no better": 7. Reader looks for

" I " rather than " Bot " at beginning of line.

III. 2. Cf. L. L. 319, 320. 3. Missing monosyllable before " Counsele,"
probably an adj. "guid" or " hye." 6. "Estat" or "estaat" is in
variably a dissyllable, and without any adj. it is often used in sense of
"high estate," cf. xciv. i, 1. 4. Lost monosyllable therefore probably
adv., or prep.; cf. Q. J. 57 for " so "j W.'s "for " is at least equally apt.
Stanza Ixx. shews that poet's acquaintance with Boethius' De Cons. Phil.
was not exact. A succinct account of Boethius and his philosophy
is given by Fraser Stewart — Boethius : an Essay (Blackwood, 1891).
Seneca, in Monk's Tale C. T. B. 3687, is styled " For of Moralitee he was
the flour."

IV. 6. "Poetly" is unknown and unrhythmical. I have ventured to sub
stitute "poleyt" which is common: cf. Henryson's Prologue to Fables,
1. 3j also Wolf and Lamb, 1. 101 : "Quhilk under poleit termes falset
myngis." "Be" meaning "by" would be a more apt prep, than "in."
Neither Dr. Skeat's interpretation nor Wischmann's is entirely satisfactory*
but it is not easy to suggest a better. As the text stands it is highly
elliptical. IV. i, 2, connects in thought st. III. and st. IV. 6-7, but
the connection is not strictly grammatical. Skeat paraphrases : " And in

129 15

130 NOTES TO THE KINGIS QUAIR

reading the book I there seemed to hear," etc. W. finds a parallel in
Ixi. 3,4. He points with an exclamation after "moralitee"! and renders:
"And what joy it gives to hear there (i.e. in his banishment) this worthy
lord and clerk." Bat " there" surely refers to book, II. 7, and the rendering
connecting " there " closely with II. 7 is : " But I took a book to read for

a little and in it to hear (the sentiments of) this worthy lord and

clerk." 3. "Set a-werk " cf. C. T. A. 4337 :

I pray to God, so yeve me sorwe and care,
If ever sitthe I highte Hogge of Ware
Herde I a millere bettre y-set a werk.

4. "Discryving of" is unusual. Bellenden, Livy, I. 9. 4, has "in
descriving the begynnyng of romanis." 7. "Can," etc. may be rendered
either "began to comfort himself" or "did comfort himself." Both
usages are common in Middle Scots. See for sense of " did " Prol. Lives
of Saints, 46, " And hou sche can hir-selwyn led " ; also The Bruce, I. 330,
III. 27. For sense of "began " see Gologras and Ga^wayne, 14, 34, 128 ;
Pistill of Susan form "gan," 288. See st. x. 6.

V. i. "Thoght" or " thocht" for " though" is a common Middle Scots form,

vid. Lives of Saints, xxx. 141 ; xxxii. 21, and in form " thowcht," ibid,
Prol. 166. Same usage in The Bruce, I. 518 ; II. 390. 3. "My advan
tage was rather to look upon," i.e. to study carefully the writing of this
noble man. W. renders " more " by " longer " and expands " my best "
into " the best which in my opinion I could do." " Beste " in sense of
advantage, cf. King Horn, 1. 776.

VI. 5. "Warldis appetitis," cf. Chaucer, T. and C. v. 1851. 6. " Aworth" may

be compared with such compounds as "a-felde," " a-fote," " a-fure,"
"a-gref." It means "patiently." N. E. D. gives from Trevisa, " $it he
took it aworth." 7. " Suffisance," cf. st. xvi. 2 and xxvi. 5, also Chaucer,
T. and C. III. 1309.

VII. 4. "Scole" is probably a scribal error for "scele," i.e. "skele." Same
error is found in a MvX of Piers Plowman, vid. Skeat's edition, vol. i.
p. 327. Neither "scull," which is Skeat's rendering, nor "school," which
is Wischmann's, gives necessary point to the meaning. 5. One is tempted
to read " song " for " long/' and " my " in 5 with " my " in 6, and " my
matere" in 7 will probably justify reading " the sentence." Line 2 may
be compared with Lancelot of the Laik, Prol. 1. 327 :

The fresch enditing of his laiting toung.

VIII. Skeat's " longe" " and "eyen" at once commend themselves; "newe""
(5) both on grammatical and rhythmical grounds is less happy. " Into "
for " in " in this connection is exceedingly common. W.'s " seyfin " for
" seynfi," and " sche " for conjectural " oft " will, perhaps, commend
themselves. For "translate" in sense of "transform" cf. The Three
Deid Po<w.s, 1. 40, Turnit in as, and thus in erd translait.

IX. " Into " (2) for " in " improves the rhythm, while pointing with a comma
after " lest " and a semicolon after " doun," as suggested by Wischmann,
greatly adds to clearness, as does the addition of "nocht " after "prynce"
from Sir David Lyndsay's manifest quotation, vid. Introd. p. Ixxvi. Refer
ences to Fortune and her wheel in medieval literature are exceedingly
numerous. Boethius, De C. P., Bk. II., Prosa 2, may be taken as the
source of much : " I torne the whirlynge wheel with the turnynge sercle,
I am to chaungen the Joweste to the heyeste and the hyeste to the
loweste" (Chaucer's Translation). The thought in 1. 5 comes from the

NOTES TO THE KINGIS QUAIR 131

Romaunt of the Rose, Fragment B. 6333 : "Now am I prince now am I
page." It is reminiscent also of Knight's Tale, 2172-4, i.e. C. T. A.
3029-3032.

X. 3, 4. See Monk's Tale, C. T. A. 3914.

XI. 2. Pointing as in amended text with comma after " Jestnyt," and taking
"sodaynlye" and "sone" as modifying "herd" make narrative more
vivid.

XII. i. For use of interrogation .cf. Q. J. 121 sqq. and L. L. 159-162.

XIII. 5. "For to write " is preferable to "newe" in this connection. For
use of "determe," cf. Douglas, Prol. to Aen. I. 217 : "So doith clerkis
determe " ; and with " maid a f," cf. same poet, Prol. to Aen. vii.,
Works, III. 77, 1. 1 1 : " I crocit me, syne bownit for to sleip." " Be-
gouth " is a double perfect formed by analogy from " can," " couth." It
is a common Scots form and has variant " begoud."

XIV. Any apt dissyllabic adj. would do as well as " sely," which Skeat adopts
from stanza xliv., or as "tendir" given in text from Q. J. 191. With
"hable" cf. "abhominable," Q. J. 255.

XV. 4. To supply lacking syllable one must read "rokkis" or "most so to
harmes hye." Comparing with st. cxxx., " Take Him in hand," one is
tempted to read " Him " for " It " in lines 2 and 5 ; but as " sterdes " is
" without helm " rather than " without helmsman," " It " is better. In
1. 6 "into" is demanded by the rhythm, unless we accept "standis."
For thought, cf. Chaucer, T. and C. I. 415 sqq. :

Thus' possed to and fro
Al stereles within a boot am I
A-midde the see betwixen windes two
That in contrarie stonden evere mo.

XVI. 3. Wischmann's " rypfinesse " and pret. " lakkit " for unrhythmical and
incongruous " lak 3' give both rhythm and sequence of tenses. For idea
of self-government, cf. T. and C. II. 374-5 ; and of " driving among
waves/' etc., cf. Q. J. 549-53 ; cf. also Lydgate, T. G. 605-13.

XVII. 5. For omission of pronominal nominative before "suld blowe" cf. x. 2.
" Fell me to mynd," also Ixxxv. 5 j and, for omission of relative pronoun
as object, xxiii. 4. This last, however, may be construed otherwise.
7. With double invocation contrast Douglas, Prol. to Aen. I. 459, 460 \
and with weak genitive " Marye," cf. st. xxv. 3, and Chaucer's use of it in
"sonne," "cherche," "lady."

XVIII. 4. The superfluous syllable which mars rhythm is to be excised by
reading " In diting of" or " In enditing this." In 6, " bynd" would he
more apt than " wynd." i, 2. " I call the rocks the great expanse of
doubtfulness which appals my mind." W. properly calls attention to
the mixture of constnictions in 5, 6, where " clepe " goes appropriately
with " bote," but not with " vnto the saile," some such verb as "com
pare " being demanded by the sense. " Also " corrects confusion.

XIX. The mixture of Muses and Furies is in harmony with the error in
st. Ixx. For Cleo vid. T. and C. II. 8, and for Thesiphone vid. Introd.
p. Ixxi. : cf. Chaucer T. and C. I. 6, 7, and Lydgate T. G. 958-960,
and Q. J. 313. Chaucer names all the Furies together in T. and C.
IV. 22-24. "Goddis" is probably meant as shortened form of "god
desses."

XX. 5. Skeat's suggestion to mend rhythm by prefixing " be " to "gynneth "
commends itself at once. 6. W. would put full stop after "suete," and

i32 NOTES TO THE KINGIS QUAIR

connect line 7 with xxi. 1-3, but as "Heigh in the est" must be construed
with line 7, not with 5, pointing with a comma after "suete " and a colon
or full stop after " ariete " is better. The thought may be compared
with opening of Q. J., with Chaucer L. G. W. 125 sqq., and with
beginning of Prol. to Lancelot of the Laik. 6. " On a morning soft and
sweet."

XXI. Scribal slip in 1. i. "Four8" is found occasionally in Gower (see
Introd. p. Ixxxi), but "four" with sound of "fower" dissyllabic, seems
more consonant with Scottish dialect as well as more closely related to
O.E. feower. The correction in 1. 4 suggests copying from original with
such a correction j neither eye nor ear could mistake " freschenesse "
for " contort." Skeat renders 1. i " having passed mid-day exactly four
degrees, i.e. an hour" ; W. "having passed its mid-day position at the
opening of Spring exactly four degrees " ; and he goes through an
elaborate astronomical calculation to prove that the 24th of March may
be accepted as the day of the prince's departure. But this seems strained.
The poet everywhere else is given to generality of statement, and (his
" four degrees exactly," notwithstanding) may be so interpreted here.
" It was afternoon of a bright Spring day when the flowers under the
sun's influence had opened their petals and were glad and grateful to
Phoebus for his heat and light." " Four degrees " is, as Skeat points out
in his note on passage, a reminiscence of Chaucer, Squire's Tale, 11. 384-6
If we accept the two stanzas as together giving an exact date, then
" midday " might be taken as "equator," and the date would be the
1 5th of March, as the sun entered Aries on the nth, and a degree
corresponds very nearly to a day. i. Something may be said for reading
"mydway." In Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe (I. 17, Brae's edition)
there is the following : " The cercle equinoctial is cleped also the Equator.
. . . This cercle equinoctial is cleped the myd^way of the first meving, or
elles of the sonne." Four degrees after midday is sixteen minutes, not an
hour. For sun "spreading" his beams cf. L. L. 677.

XXII. i, 2. Another instance of indefinite statement. With 1. i, cf. L. L.
1430-32, concluding "Done frome he passith the ^eris of Innocens."
4. Cf. L. L. 393. 6. "By thaire avise." Bishop Wardlaw and King
Robert III. are usually and probably correctly credited with the proposal
to send James to France. Mr. R. S. Rait definitely makes Albany
responsible, vid. Outline of Relations between England and Scotland, p. 83.

XXIII. "Puruait," vid. Wyntoun O. C. ix. c. 25. The common Middle
Scots form is " necessaire." 5. "Saint John as a pledge " for a favourable
voyage, a very common expression both in Middle English and Middle
Scots poetry, vid. Lydgate, Camplaint of Black Knight, 1. 12 j Chaucer,
Squire's Tale, 596 ; Lindsay, I. p. 38, 11. 995-6 :

4 Tharefor adew : I may no langer tarye :
Fareweill/ quod I, ' and with Sanct Jhone to borrow.'

Cf. Compleynte of Mars, 9. 7. " Pullit up saile." Bellenden has the same
expression, vid. Introd. p. xiv, "pullit up sailis at the Bass."

XXIV. 4. Lost syllable after "hand " more likely to be "and" than Skeat's
"as." W.'s suggestion "for to say" gives an unmusical line ; his other
conjectures " schorteiy " and " strangS " are better. Silence about the
English as enemies is appropriate to the character of King James I. It

' is also appropriate to the period in reign of James III., 1471-78, when
he was very friendly with England.

NOTES TO THE KINGIS QUAIR 133

XXV. 3. See xvii. 7 for similar construction. The meaning is "in the
abandonment of sorrow." "Abandoune" is found in The Bruce, xv. 59,
xix. 335, with "at" and "in" forming adv. phrase. 4. " Twyne,"
abstractly, may mean either " to separate " or " to twist." It has the
latter meaning here, as in the old song, " Twine weel the plaidie."
Originally there was but one Fate who span the thread of life. Hecuba
speaks of her in her lament for Hector : " Even thus for him did mighty
Fate erst spin with her thread at his beginning when I bare him "
(II. xxiv. 209-210). Later, in Hesiod, the Fates were three, and Clotho,
the first of the sisters, span the thread ; in the Roman poets of the
Augustan age, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos all span. See art. "Moirae,"
Smith's Diet, of Greek and Roman Myth. 5. " Twise," scribal error for
"twies"; "twie" is also found, as in Genesis and Exodus, 1. 808.
"Nearly eighteen years": this is the general testimony as to duration
of James's imprisonment. See Appendix A. 6. For " aduert " ct.
Lydgate, Beware of Doubilnesse, 1. 45, and 1. 7, "in relesche of my smert."
Complaint of Black Knight, 1. 20 : " Until it please Jupiter to make known
his compassion and send comfort as a relief to my pain." 6, 7. Cf. Q. J.
82-84.

XXVI. 3. "Quhat haue I gilt," L. L. 1. 699.

XXVII. 3. "Lakkith libertee," cf. with Q. J. " lakkith discretioun." As a
Scots construction it is a false form : "lakkis" would be correct as verb
is separated from pronoun ; yet " lak " is also found in passive sense.
4. "Seyen" rather than "seyne": cf. st. viii. 6. 6. " Argow " is the
usual form : see Henryson, Prol. to Fab. 1. 45.

XXVIII. 5-7. Dr. Skeat's explanation of the poet's meaning — that he is a
cipher — is given fully in note on this stanza, pp. 66, 67 of his edition.
The crossing out and correction in 1. 7 give another indication that the
scribe copied from a MS. which itself had corrections. St. xlix. concludes
with "I drede."

XXX. i. See, for language, Chaucer, T. and C. I. 1. 547. From this stanza
onward to Ixxi. there is manifest imitation of Chaucer, Knight's Tale.
See C. T. A. 1030-1354. 4. The opening words of MS. "And to" for
" Vnto" illustrate well the kind of blunder made in transcribing. 5. Cf.
C. T. C. 125 : As she cam forby.

XXXI. The description of the "herbere" may be compared with The Flower
and the Leaf, 11. 64-72, especially with 66-72 :

That who that list without to stond or go,
Though he wold al-day pryen to and fro,
He shuld not see if there were ony wight
Within or no ,• but oon within wel might
Perceive al tho that yeden there-without
In the feld.

A similar but less artistic description is to be found in Prol. to L. L.,
11. 45-56. Skeat's pointing and W.'s are equally defensible. "Herbere "
means either "arbour," as in Chaucer, L. G. W. 1. 203, or "herbarium,"
i.e., "herb-garden." Both here and in xxxii. 3 "herb-garden" is the
natural rendering. 5. "Kriet," which is a Kentish form, is doubtless
due to exigencies of rhyme, and to the literary character of the greater
part of poem. 6. S.'s "y-walking" is decidedly better than W.'s "walk-
inge," although latter is found in Chaucer.
XXXIII. i. "Smale," which is found without vocal e' in st. xlviii. 2, seems

134 NOTES TO THE KINGIS QUAIR

fitting emendation of "small." Concord requires " nyghtingales," but such
violations are common. 5-7. " That all the garden and the walls rang
clearly with their song, and their sweet harmony, and, lo ! the text (of
their song) is in the following stanza." " Copill," in this sense, is found
in Chron. Jac. Pr. (Maitland Club), p. 19 : "Thaire is more of this
lamentacioune xviii. coupill." If the text is to be altered, "in" should
be substituted for " on " rather than " of," as suggested by S. and
approved by W. "Gardyng," cf. Q. J. 1. 369, also L. L. passim.

XXXIV. i. S. suggests " worschippeth." "Worschippe" as plu. imp. is
neither N. nor S. dialect, vid. Introd. p. Ixxxv, cf. st. cii. 5 for " schapith "
as imp. and also for " forgeue " as sing. imp. joined with Southern plur.
form. "Bene," "ar," "are," and "is" all used as plur. pres. ; "bene"
also occasionally with sing. nom. 2. For " kalendis " in sense of " begin
ning," cf. Scogan, A Morale Balade, 1. 146, "Sone after comen kalends
of dotage" ; also L. L. 1. 12. 3-7. cf. Chaucer, P. F. 680-92. 7. "List,"
here, is "pleased,5' in various passages used impersonally and personally ;
as znd sing. pres. in Iviii. 5.

XXXV. 2. "stent," cf. v. 3, pret. of "stenten" or "stent," of which the
common form is "stynt" or "stint" : see liii. 2 and civ. 2. 7. "Thai"
rather than " that."

XXXVI. See Introd. for frequent use of interrogation, and for repetition of
same word in rhyme, also cf. Q. J. 121 sqq. and 527 sqq. and Prol. to
L. L. 160-164. 6. Cf. for " feynit chere," The Compleynt affaire Anelyda
upon Fals Arcyte, 97.

XXXVII. W.'s pointing in this stanza makes the meaning clearer, as is shown
by text. A possible improvement would be a mark of interrogation after
"him" in 1. 4, and to connect "As we in bukis fynd" with 1. 5. Re
calling form "knet" in xxxi. 5, one is disposed to read "knetten" for
"setten," cf. R. R. i ; 1. 7 should certainly be read as a question.

XXXVIII. 3. See note on xxvi. 3.

XXXIX. Though the poet might not write " ringe," " beninge," and " dinge "
(11. 2, 4, 5) in the usual Scots fashion, he thought of the sounds which
they represent as his rhymes.

XL. 4. "Or" is without point; "and" is more natural. 4, 5. Cf., for con
struction and manner of overflow, L. L. 603-5 :

Galiot, which is the farest knycht
And hiest be half a fut one hycht
That euer I saw.

XLII. 3. " That verray womanly," "so very womanly." For such use of "that"
see passage from Scott, quoted in note on stanza lix. 3. Cf. Q. J. 307.
6, 7. Knight's Tale, C. T. A. noi-n and 1156-61.

XLIII. i. Cupid's own princess is the poet's paraphrase of Chaucer's Venus.
He can hardly be credited with a knowledge of Apuleius and the beauti
ful story of Psyche. 3. Cf. Chaucer P. F. 1. 368, and 302-8.

XLIV. 4. " Why does it please God to make you so ?" It is difficult to
account for the Kenticism " lest " except as an imitation of Chaucer j
cf. Q. J. 536. 7. Cf. Black Knight, 1. 516.

XLV. This stanza as it stands in the text is grammatically incomplete. To
rectify the anacolouthon it is necessary either to supply in thought both
pronoun aryl verb and to take " vnknawin " as equivalent to " I was
vnknawing," i.e. " I did not know," or to accept W.'s suggestion and
read 1. 4, " So ferre I fallyn (was)," " fallyng " being provincial for
"fallyn," like " gardyng " for " gardyn " in st. xxiii. 5. It is not

NOTES TO THE KINGIS QUAIR

'35

necessary to read "in" for "into," as "lufis" may be read as a mono
syllable. The expression " lovis daunce " is found in T. and C. II. 1 106,
and in the English poems ascribed to Charles d'Orleans (see Bullrich,
Eng. Poems ofCh. d'O., p. 13). Yet "i-fallyng," as participle, suggests
"twynklyng" in i. 2 and "beseching" in clxxxiv. i.

XLVI. The confusion in this stanza will disappear if I. 3 is read " It fretwise
couchit was." " If I shall write a description of her dress, with respect
to her golden hair and rich attire, it was by way of ornament set with
white pearls." "Toward" in this sense to be compared with "touert"
in clxxiv. i. " Was" is to be understood before "chaplet" and st. xrvii.
runs on as conclusion of 6, 7. " Partit " in 7 has same sense as " partie "
in Court of Love, 1. 1434. 3. Cf. C. T. A. 2161.

XLVII. This and the next stanza as a whole may be compared with The
Flower and the Leaf, 11. 141-161, and Assembly of Ladies, 11. 519-39.
i. W. suggests " quakingfi," but a connective is needed. " And " before
"full" helps sense and rhythm. 3, 4. The repetition of " floure-Ionettis "
can scarcely be accepted as the poet's work, although such rhymes are
very common in his poem. The range cf conjectural rhyme-words is
limited. S. suggests all likely words : " violettis" adopted in the text is
one of them. " lonette " is a kind of lily ; the jaulnet d'eau is the
yellow water-lily. (N. E. D.)

XLVIII. i. Cf. Assembly of Ladies, 1. 534, of " ryght fyne enamyl." 3, 4. Cf.
T. and C. iii., 1371 :

But wel I wote a broche of gold azure,
In which a ruby set was lik an herte.

3. "Faille" is used in O.K. sense of " fault or defect." 4. "Herte "or
"y-schapin" corrects rhythm. 5. Henryson, O. and E., 1. 87, speaks of
the lowe (i.e. flame) of luf. 7. "God it wote": frequent use of this
expression is a mannerism common to K. Q., L. L., and Q. J.

XLIX. 4, 5. A comma after " lyte " and a colon after " haste " make connec
tion clearer. " Lo " instead of " to " before " suich " is more in the poet's
manner, cf. xxxiii. 7, Iviii. 6, Ixxxvi. 3, Ixxxviii. 7, cxxxi. i, cxlviii. 3.

L. W.'s punctuation in this stanza, adopted in text, has everything to recom
mend it, but he links 6 with 5, not with 7, a connection which is surely
preferable. The meaning is " Moderation so guided her in every point
that Nature to no higher degree could advance her child in word, in deed,
in figure, in face." "Measure" in sense of "moderation" or "temper
ance" is common. Cf. Piers Plowman, C. Text, Passus II. 1. 33 :
" Mesure is medecyne."

LI. 7. Cf. for reference to succeeding stanza xxxiii. 6, 7.

LII. i, 2. "O bright Venus, to whom among the gods who are stars I pay
homage and sacrifice." 4. " Into suich," or " in suich a," necessary for
metre.

LIII. 2. " Stynt" : cf. civ. 2, and contrast xxxv. 2 and v. 3. 4. " Behalding
to" is rhythmical and is a common expression. Thus in Legends of the
Saints, xviii. 751, 2 :

To J>at ymage of oure lady
Increly be-haldand ay.

W. justifies the MS. reading on the ground that there is an extra light
syllable after the caesura as elsewhere in the poem — Ivi. 7, Ixxxvi. 6, etc.

136 NOTES TO THE KINGIS QUAIR

But some, indeed most, of the passages he cites ought to be read in a way
that gives no extra syllable, e.g. Ixxx. i, cvii. 4, cxix. 2.

LV. 2. The story of Procne and Philomela is told by Gower, Conf. Amant.
V. 5551-6074, and by Chaucer, L. G. W. 2228-2393. Both derive the
main points of the story from Ovid, Met. vi. 412-676. Ovid's story is
that Tereus, a King of Thrace, married Procne, the daughter of Pandion,
King of Attica. He afterwards ravished Philomela, his wife's sister, and
cut out her tongue, that she might not reveal his brutal turpitude. She
was kept a close prisoner, and Procne was told that she was dead. But
Philomela revealed Tereus' crime by weaving words into a robe and
sending this to her sister. Procne was so madly enraged with her husband
that she killed their son Itys, and served his flesh at a banquet. When
Tereus discovered this he pursued the sisters to slay them both, but the
gods changed them into birds, Procne into a swallow, Philomela into a
nightingale, and Tereus into a hoopoe. The initial point of the story,
on which Ovid moralises effectively, was the circumstance which gave
Tereus opportunity of seeing Philomela. The sisters longed for each
other, therefore a journey was made to Attica, and Philomela was sent
on a visit to Thrace. The story is alluded to by Lydgate, T. G. 11. 97, 98.
7. "Quhare" has force of "by which." One looks for "quhan" rather
than "quhare."

LVI. 5. " Quhois," dissyllabic, as in L. of S. iv. 210, "fore quhois cause I am
led now." In spite of the sing, pron., "thyne," "thy," one is tempted to
read " chideth " in 6, especially with " thir " following. Cf. Dunbar,
II. 274, "Gladethe, thou Queen of Scottis regioun." For "twenty
deuil way" see Introd. p. Ixiii. It means "in way of twenty devils," i.e.,
" anyhow."

LVII. 4. "Lest" for "lust" is another Kenticism : cf. C. T. A. 132 in
description of the Prioress : " In curteisie was set ful muchel her leste."
Also Dethe of Blaunche the Duchesse, 1. 907. 6. " Pepe," see Henryson,
Fabillis, where the word is used more than once of cry of a mouse, 1. 26
of U. M. and B. M., and 1. 147 ; also in Paddok and Mous, 1. 7. Stanzas
Ivii.-lix. may be compared with L. L. 11. 81-136.

LVIII. 1-4. Cf. Q. J. 11. 121-31. 3. Cf. Q. J. 130. 5. "Thou more list,"
cf. Gower, Conf. Amant. III. i :

If thou the vices lest to know.

LIX. 3. "What wouldst thou then?" "Wostow" is ordinary contraction
for "knowest thou," but here, as W. points out, it is for "woldest thou."
6. "Gree," in M.E. and in M.S., is the French "gre," which represents
both Latin gradum and gratiam. In first sense it means (a) "step" or
"degree," (£) "victory" or "pre-eminence." Familiar instances of this
usage in Modern Scots are Burns5

That sense and worth, o'er a9 the earth,
May bear the gree and a' that j

and Scott, in Heart of Midlothian, II. 70, where Madge Wildfire praises
the hammermen of Edinburgh for their skill in making stancheons, ring
bolts, etc. : " And they arena that bad at girdles for carcakes neither,
though the Cu'ross hammermen have the gree for that." In the second
sense it means " favour," "grace," as in Clerk's Tale, 1. 1151 :

Receyven al in gree that God us sent }
and in Ros, La Belle Dame sans Mercy, 1. 842, " To take in gree this rude

NOTES TO THE KINGIS QUAIR 137

translatioun." The preferable rendering is therefore " And here to gain
favour"; i.e. of the lady who is mentioned as approaching in Ivii. 2.
Cf. also Plowman's Tale, I. 333-4 :

Suche harlottes shull men disclaundcr
For they shullen mak hir gree.

7. " Now," not " here," makes natural contrast to "neuer."

LX. 7. As in MS. singularly unmusical. Omission of " that " and reading
"awake" would amend rhythm.

LXI. 2. " Quhare," " on which," " whereupon." 3. W. compares with iv. i.
7. Few readers will approve of W.'s rendering, ** bounding all to festal
joy," thus taking " boundin " as dialectal for " bounding." The
meaning is " So completely enslaved were my wits.1'

LXI I. i. "To the notis1' — Poet made words in spirit of bird's song,
a. For "ditee" in this sense cf. Chaucer's Translation of Boethius, 315,
602, 1453. " Quhilkis," instance of plur. rel. pron. 3. "Direct,"
" directed." 5, 7. Defective rhythm may be variously amended :
"Deuotfily" is suggested by analogy from "schortely." " Deuoitly,"
four syllables, might have preference, but wherever found it is trisyllabic.

LXIII. W. suggests closing "the ditee" at 1. 3, but this would be prosaic
and unlike Hi., where invocation of Venus occupies whole stanza.
7. K. Q. and Q. J. show a certain partiality for use of word " hell."

LXIV. 3. "A voce" and 6, "a soyte" mean "one voice" and "one suit,"
like modern Scots "ae," " Ae fond kiss." At a later time the poet would
almost certainly have written " ane voce" and " ane soyte," as in clx. i,
where he has written "ane surcote." 3. "Begone," as it rhymes with
" euerichone," is not the p.p. of " begin," which is " begonne," but of
"bego," O.E. began, cf. The Flower and the Leaf, 1. 186 : "Me thought
I was wel bigon," i.e. "circumstanced."

LXV. i. Dr. Skeat, taking the rhymes as "bridis" and "bydis," translates
" brides " and "bides." But this introduces an alien and a very unusual
thought. Reading " briddis " and " byddis," the meaning is " Now be
welcome fresh May, flower of all months, always kind to birds. For not
only does your grace ask us to give this welcome, but we call all the
world to bear witness to this (grace) which has strewed fresh, sweet, and
tender green so liberally everywhere." 5. " Playnly " may mean "mani
festly" or "fully," cf. Legends of the Saints, Prol. 1. 135 : " Playne powar
our the laffe."

LXVI. 2. " Full " is redundant.

LXVII. 6. "To see her depart and follow I could not" — a mixed con
struction.

LXVIII. 3, 4. "For thay," i.e. "axis and turment" expressed in Ixvii. 5
and implied in "peyne," "may not more rigorously affect any man."
5. " Both tueyne," cf. Ixxv. 5 and xcviii. 4.

LXIX. 7. "Schape remede" : cf. cii. 5, and L. L. 89.

LXX. Tantalus is alluded to by Chaucer, Book of Duchess, 1. 708, and T. and
C. III. 1. 593, also in Boethius, Book III., metrum 12, 1130: "And
Tantalus that was destroied by the woodnesse of long thurst, despyseth
the floodes to drynken." Apparently Tantalus was suggested by " my
dryfi thrist " in Ixix. 4. The punishment, " water to draw with buket
botemless," is not that assigned to Tantalus, but to the daughters of
Danaus, who murdered their husbands on their wedding night, all but

138 NOTES TO THE KINGIS QUAIR

Hypermnestra, who saved her husband Lynceus. The best-known
classical reference is Horace's Ode to Mercury ', III. xi. 25 sqq. :

Audiat Lyde scelus atque notas
Virginum poenas, et inane lymphae
Dolium fundo pereuntis imo

Seraque fata,
Quae manent culpas etiam sub Oreo.

Chaucer in L. G. W. closes with an unfinished legend of Hypermnestra.

5. " By " is plainly " be," " concerning."
LXXI. i. "Sighit," monosyllable. 2. " Strenth," common Middle and

Modern Scots usage. 3. " Fone," Chaucer's " foon," see Glossary.
LXXII. i. S's " longe " is perhaps simpler than insertion of " to " after "gan."

Cf. C. T. E. 21 1 2 : For al that ever he koude poure or prye. 2. "Endit"

is so unusual in this connection that " I-hid '' from Temple ofGlas, 1. 793,

is given as conjectural reading. The natural verb would be "sylit," as

in Henryson, Testament ofCresseid, 11, 9, 10 :

Quhen Titan had his bemys bricht
Withdrawin doun, and sylit under cure.

5. T. G. 1348 : " Willi planet O Hesperus so bryght."

LXXIII. S. finishes the sentence with Ixxii. 7, but W.'s pointing is prefer
able, as is shewn in amended text. This is one of few instances in K. Q.
ot overflow from one stanza to another. 3. " Ourset," cf. Gower, Conf.
Amant. v. 2707-8 :

Thus he whom gold hath overset
Was trapped in his oghne net.

6. "Suoun," cf. Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 1079, "aswowne."

LXXIV. 3. Repetition of "wyndow" from line above suggests conjecture
" chamberewallis." 5. W. conjectures " It blent," " it blinded."
"Iblent" is a p.p. certainly in Lydgate, Reson and Sensuallyte, 1. 3659.
He speaks thus or the singing of sirens :

The noise is so ravysshynge
That shippes seyling by the see
With her song so fonned bee
So supprysed and y-blent
That they be verray necligent
Of gouernaylle in ther passage.

But " Iblent " may quite well be taken as an intensive form of " blent,"
pret. of " blenchen," which is usually " bleinte " or " bleynte," the modern
"blenched" or "flinched," and the rendering would thus be : "So that
my force of vision wholly failed." Such an intensive form is found in
Q. J., 1. 525, not with p.p. alone, but with inf. : "A lady rather schuld
hir deth y-take." 6. For " there -with-all " cf. Ixxix. 5 and Ixxxiii. i.

LXXV. This and the following stanza are so closely linked that it is necessary
in 7 to point with a comma after " fair," and shew the overflow.

LXXVI. 4. "Signifere/' "the zodiac," Gower, Conf. Amant, vii. 955-1236,
gives several signs.

LXXVII. i. Comparing with cxxiv. 7, "palace" may be read for "place,"
and "a-nye" would still further improve the rhythm. At this point
begins very substantial borrowing from the Temple ofGlas. But there is

NOTES TO THE KINGIS QUAIR 139

this difference : Lydgate at first sees pictures, then persons ; the poet here

sees actual persons only. Lydgate abounds in names. Our poet, with his

wonted preference for generality, mentions no one.
LXXVIII. 7. Cf. L. L. 2252.
LXXIX. i. "Quhois," dissyllabic, cf. Ivi. 5. 6. " Solempnit " is a Scots form

preferable to "solempnC." "Solemnitly " is found in Wallace, viii. 655,

and in Legends of the Saints, xvii. 202.
LXXX. "And off gude folkis " is a better amendment of rhythm than to

accent final syllable either of "gude" or of " folkis," cf. i. 7 and xlvii. i.

5. "Besyde," cf. Legends of Saints, ii. 226-7 :

And besyd it to morne $e se may
twa men stannand besyd it prayand.

7. Omission of nom. cf. x. 2.
LXXXI. 2. Cf. Temple ofGlas, 11. 203-4.. 5- " AY " and " amang," i.e. "ever"

and "occasionally" present the same kind of contradiction as " besyde,"

" next," and " with," in Ixxx. 5, 7.
LXXXII. 3. W.'s "behynde" commends itself. 6. "With billis," i.e.

"petitions," cf. T. G., 11. 315-320.
LXXXIII. 3. "3ond there" as reading will commend itself. For "gree"

see note on fix. 6. 7. "Endyng-day" : cf. C. T. D. 507.
LXXXIV. 7. " Thai lakkit noght gude will " would be more in accordance

with poet's usage. Yet " lak " is frequently found in passive sense " to

be wanting," see Piers Plowman, B. xi. 280 : " Hem shulde lakke no

lyflode."
LXXXV. 3. For omission of nom., and especially of relative nom., see note

on xvii. 5. 5. "The" before "poetis" or "sciencis" is redundant.

7. Cf. L. L. 107.
LXXXVI. In i, as elsewhere, one wishes that it were permissible to read

"estage." Change of order in 5 improves rhythm.
LXXXVII. 2. "All day," "every day, "continually," cf. C. T. B. 1702 :

"For sely child wol al day sone leere." 3-7. For construction cf.

Chaucer, C. T. D. 257-261, and ibid. 925-930. 7. "Some for excess."
LXXXVIII. i. S.'s and W.'s amendments of metre equally apt. Here there

is again close following of Temple ofGlas, 11. 163 sqq.
LXXXIX. 4. "Halfdel" is suggested by S., but "halflyng" is poet's word in

xlix. 5. W. would simply read "seruice," and leave text unaltered. He

founds on C. T., Prol. 122 : "Ful weel sche s ong the seruice dyuyne."
XC. Cf. T. G., 11. 196-202.
XCI. Ibid., 11. 207 sqq. 4. "Gruchit," suggested by Mr. Eyre-Todd in his

Medieval Scottish Poetry, is preferable to W.'s " grxiche " or S.'s " gruchen."
XCII. 4. The speech of the voice, Ixxxiii. 2 ends here.
XCIII. In 4 "iunyt" (see cxxxiii. 7) might well take the place of " coplit "

repeated from line above. 5. S.'s substitution of "sche " for "so" is

unnecessary, as W. has pointed out, "that" in 3 being rel. pron. "Sche,"

however, is more vivid and more poetical.
XCIV. i. "Chiere," an unusual form of "chere." 5. See Introd. p. xv, also

R. R. 885-908 especially :

And also on his head was sette
Of Roses reed a chapelett.

XCV. Cf. R. R. 937-982. 7. Cf. clx. 4-6.

XCVI. i. "Of compas," cf. Assembly of Ladies, 1. 54.

1 40 NOTES TO THE KINGIS QUAIR

XCVII. i. "Fair-Calling" is Bialacoil (Bel-Acueil) of R. R. He is there
described 11. 2982-5 :

A lusty bachelere

Of good stature and of good hight
And Bialacoil for sothe he hight,
Sone he was to curtesie.

5. Omission of rel. pron. " that" is best way of amending metre. " On "
might be omitted to detriment of sense. W.'s suggestion that " othir "
should be slurred into monosyllable like "quethir" is scarcely admissible.
For omission of rel. pron. as object, cf. xxiii. 4, though here the clause
may also be interpreted with " time " as direct obj. 6, 7. See above note
on xcv. 7.

XCVIII. i. "Astonate," cf. " unquestionate," cxxv. 4. 4. Cf. Ixxx. 5 and
cxxiv. 4. 6. " And with," necessary for syntax and metre.

XCIX. 4. For this use of " Vertew," cf. Ixxiv. 5. 6. " That n has an ante
cedent " I," implied in " my."

C. 5. " O anchor and helm " is Dr. Skeat's rendering, and he ingeniously
explains by reference to Chaucer's mistranslation of cla-vus as clavis in
Boethius, De Cons. Phil III. 12 (see S.'s Ed. K. Q. p. 78). But "keye "
may be "key," simply. As Venus is a fountain of remedy and cure of
hearts, as well as a haven and an anchor, she may, by further mixture of
metaphor, be addressed as a key of good fortune. Love's key is noted in
R. R. 11. 2079 SC19' But " helm " or " tiller " is undoubtedly a more apt
and poetical rendering.

CII. 5. See note xxxiv. i. For artificiality of construction like " forgeue all
this and schapith remedye" see Professor Gregory Smith on Middle Scots
usage, Specimens of Middle Scots, Introd. p. xxxvi. 7. " Cause me to die,"
cf. ciii. 7.

CIV. i. For absolute construction, cf. xlv. 3.

CVI. 6. "Forehede," which, in this reference is at once unusual and unpoetic,
is probably a scribal error for " fairhede," i.e. beauty, which may here be
rendered "thy goodly or gracious person."

CVII. Reading " byndand " in 5 brings sense to an otherwise unintelligible
passage. " This is to say (although it belongs to me to wield the sceptre
in the realm of love) that the effects of my bright beams, binding with
others by eternal decree, have their influence in discovering means (of
success) at times with reference both to things future and to things past :
this matter (however) it is not my province to direct alone." In 3, 4 we have
" effectis has " (instead of more common " hes "), the prevailing Middle
Scots usage seldom found in K. Q. 4. "Aspectis," cf. Gower, Conf.
Amant., vii. 901-6 :

But for to telle redely
In what climate most comunly
That this planete hath his effect,
Seid is that he hath his aspect
Upon the holi lond so cast
That there is no pes stedefast.

7. "Writh," literally "to turn," see cxxii. 3. Cf. "Sa suld we wryth
all sin away," Henryson, The Eludy Serk, 1. 107. "For to wryth agathis wil
fra cryst," Legends of the Saints, xlii. 1. 97.

CVIII. 2. W. rejects the amendment of text and accents " otheris," trans
lating as parenthesis : "Because, indeed, others influence that." 5. "Ad-

NOTES TO THE KINGIS QUAIR 141

uertence," cf. xxv. 6, " aduert," and Lydgate, To my Soverain Lady,
11. 61, 62 :

And sith myn advertence

Is in you, reweth on my paynes smert.

"Aduertence" here, according to context, must mean either "knowledge*
or "power." It could not possibly mean "retinue" or "following," as
" aduertance " sometimes does: see Professor Gregory Smith's Specimens
of Middle Scots, p. 261. 17, and note on passage. 6. Cf. L. L. 2545.
7. "I-wone," scribe has omitted to write n, as form is "i-wonne."

CIX. 7. The scribe's corrections give full line. Already in Mid. Scots, as
now in Mod. Scots, "doken" is used as a singular like "dock/' It is
" doccan," plur. of " docce." For use of singular cf. Charles Murray,
Ham&with, p. 6 : " But he cared na doit nor docken what they did or
thocht or said."

CX. Here are one or two minor textual confusions. In 2 "lanuarye" scans
" lan/ua/rye," and " vnlike " and " vnto " are therefore necessary for " like"
and "to." Transposition of 5 and 4 would improve connection of
thought. Douglas, Prol. to JEn. I., compares the owl and the parrot to
mark the inferiority of his poetry to Virgil's :

Quhilk is na mair lyk Virgile dar I lay
Na )>e owle resemblis |>e papyngay.

7. " Prese " is the nearest approach to what is represented in MS., and
gives good sense. It is a variant of " prise," " to be priced or prized." " The
eye of a fish is not fit to be valued or rated so high as pearl in the gold
smith's craft." " Prise/' the noun, is found in cxxviii. 5 and clxxxviii. 6.
7. Cf. L. L. 3271 for form "maked."

CXI. 5. See note on xix. 3. 7. "To schorten with," cf. xvi. 4, "to gouerne
with."

CXII. 6. For this use of " supplye," cf. xv. 5.

CXIII. 4. The artificial form "alleris" is also found in Legends of the Saints,
xxviii. 28 :

for throu humylite but dred
was Mary mad oure alleris med.

"Aller" is Chaucer's form for O.E. ealra, gen. pi. of eall, and probably
the is here is due originally to a scribal flourish at end of word. For form
" aller" in Chaucer, see C. T. Prol. 1. 799 :

Shal have a soper at oure aller cost.

Unusually close connection between stanzas cxiii. and cxiv., and between
cxiv. and cxv.

CXV. 7. " Eft " is uncommon in this connection. " No longer is there
any one."

CXVI. 2. " Booth constreyne," cf. Q. J., 1. 26. 4, 5. " And for a manifest
sign all this rain comes as from my tears." For conceit that Venus' tears
make rain, cf. U envoy de Chaucer a Scogan, 11. 10, n. Aurora's tears
make dew: Flour of Curtesye, 11. 38-40. 4-7. There is a certain ob
scurity here. " Pleyne " is to be taken as adj., not as verb, though it
might be taken as a verb. 6. S. makes "ybete " an infinitive, W. a p.p.
It may be either, as, contrary to W.'s contention, such a form is found,
not in K. Q., but in Q. J., 1. 525.

142 NOTES TO THE KINGIS QUAIR

CXVII. i. "Stynten othir quhile" is certainly a scribal error for "stynt
another quhile." 4. "Of" here is to be interpreted differently from "of"
in cxvi. 5. It means here "under the influence of." 6. W. suggests
"ryght" for Skeat's "as" ; he cites many passages in support of his
contention : xxvi. 3, liv. 3, civ. 7, cxxvii. i, clxxviii. 7, clxxxviii. 7. But
"into" is simpler, and conforms to Mid. Scots usage.

CXVIII. See Introduction, section iv., for variety of verbal inflections in this
stanza, and cxix. 4. For " stound" in sense of " hour," cf. Legends of the
Saints, xxx. 725-6 :

J>at scho persauit wel apere
}>e stond of ded til hyre nere.

CXIX. 6. The text of MS. is difficult to understand. S. suggests the substi
tution of "That" for" most," and W. "haue" for "has." W. would
then translate "must commonly have ever his observance." But "com
monly" and "ay" go ill together. Looking to "ay" in 4 and 5, one is
tempted to think that the third " ay " in 6 is an error. Perhaps it would
be too bold a remedy to read " Most commonly has May his observance,"
and to take the line as parallel in meaning with 4. Simpler still is the
reading adopted in text "haue thay." Yet this alteration is not quite
satisfactory. This stanza and two which follow may be compared with
L.L.ll. 15, 1 6.

CXX. i. "Thus mayest thou see" : "seyne" is for "sene," cf. clxxviii. 5.

2. W. makes a most ingenious and highly probable conjecture for " maist
weye," which is unintelligible. He would read " most," i.e. " must
obeye," the scribe having made an English " most " into " maist " as if it
were an adj., and misread ob as iv., " Which ye ought to obey and must."

3. tf Because of sloth are wholly forgotten/5 " Is," like has," with plural
nom., is rare in K. Q.

CXXII. 3. " Aspectis," cf. cvii. 4 ; "writh," ibid. 7.

CXXV. i, 2. Cf. Assembly of Ladies, 11. 176, 177. 3. " Vnquestionate," an
unusual form ate for occasional et and ordinary it, written to rhyme to
"eye" as well as to "ear." 5. "Said renewe," i.e. "sober renewal";
" said," being equivalent to " sad," is wholly out of keeping with what
follows. As a way out of the difficulty, " facture newe " is suggested,
"facture" in the handwriting of the time having a certain resemblance
to "saidre" ; "facture," not a common word, is employed elsewhere by
the poet. See 1. 2 and Ixvi. 6.

CXXVI. "Gyde led," see cxxiv. 6. "hath led," and clviii. 7, "has led."
6. Flower and Leaf, 1. 596. 7. Omission of nom. to "likit," cf. x. 2.

CXXIX. 3. W. would read "on nyce " following "on vertew set5' in 6.
But "set of" is found in Legends of the Saints, xii. 161. In cxliv. 2 the
MS. reading is " In vertew thy lufe is set."

CXXX. Cf. st. xv. For thought in 5 cf. Ep. to Ephes. ii. 20, i Cor. iii. 10, n.

CXXXI. 6. Founding upon "schapith" in cii. 5 one may perhaps read
"groundith " in spite of sing, "thy." As justification for this see
Q. J. 314. For thought, cf. S. Matt. vii. 24.

CXXXII. W.'s pointing in 4, 5, given in text, and his rendering make the
meaning clear. " Unless thy work (or deed) agree thereto, and all thy
anxious carefulness be expressed." "Mesure" is a verb, and this usage
may be compared with Lydgate's A Commendation of Our Lady, 1. 119 :
" Mesure thy mourning, myn owne Margaryte."

CXXXIII. i. See Eccles. iii. i sqq. Cf. C. T. E. 1972. 4. Cf. L. L. 1753.
Chaucer, in N. P. T., 1. 509, uses Ecclesiaste to signify Ecdesiasticus,

NOTES TO THE KINGIS QUAIR

and when he alludes to this passage he does not name his author. Gower
(C. A., vii. 4491) expressly calls Solomon Ecclesiaste. 2. "Bide weel,
betide weel " : " abit " is " abideth," as " writ " is " writeth." -5,4." He
that knows only haste knows nothing of good fortune." Cf. Isaiah
xxviii. 1 6.
CXXXIV. Cf. R. R. 4828 sqq. i. Chaucer's words are " brotel" and

" brotelnesse." See C. T. E. 1279.
CXXXV. Transposition of 5 and 4 would improve syntax. Scribe may have

erred, as in clxxxv.

CXXXVI. i, 2. Cf. Q. J., 1. 496. 3. Cf. S. Matt. vii. 155 R. R. 6259 :
Who so took a wethers skynne
And wrapped a gredy wolf therynne,
For he shulde go with lambis whyte,
Wenest thou not he wolde hem bite.

AlsoR.R. 7013-16 :

Outward lambren semen we,
Full of goodnesse and of pitee,
And inward we withouten fable
Ben gredy wolves ravysable.

7. Cf. Q. J., 11. 489-90.

CXXXVII. 3. Cf. Chaucer, C. T. E. 1943, for "kid."

CXXXVIII. 3. The missing monosyllable may be "wel," or "ful," or
" ryght."

CXXXIX. 5, 6. " And should like to be the man who could effect somewhat
for her honour."

CXL. 5. Sense demands either "Mold I," suggested by S., or "wald noght be."

CXLI. 3. S.'s conjecture "faute" for "faynt" is very happy. 6, 7. "But
desire so limits my wits that I care for no greater joy than your favour."

CXLII. 3. " Playnly " perhaps " fully " rather than " manifestly." 4. Having
regard to " treuly " in cxxxix. 3, and to rhythm one would read " trewely
without fantise." "Fantise" is in R. R. 1971, as "feyntise." Cf. Fhwer
and Leaf, 1. 549 : "To seeke honour without feintyse or slouth." 5. The
lacuna before "vp-rise" is puzzling. S.'s suggestion has the merit of
simplicity j W.'s of being a single word, and that at least a probable verb
before "vp-rise." Yet the idea that seems to be lacking is of will or
desire on the part of the poet. 7. " Putten in balance " : to put in doubt
or danger, cf. Book of Duchess, 1. 1020.

CXLIII. 7. "My greatest joy," cf. "more" in cxli. 7.

CXLIV. 2. Cf. cxxix. 6. 4-7, " And sincerely without reluctance to have pity
on the distress and fever which hold your heart : I will pray Fortune that
she may be no longer opposed to your passion."

CXLV. 2, 4, 5. Such rhymes as duellyng, mellyng, repellyrig, are found in
Q. J. 242, 244 ; demyng, connyng, but without rhyme in preceding
syllable ; also in Q. J. 196, 197, 199. 5. " Apperit" : a reader expects
"appointit" or "pertening." 6. Fortune has the two lots of weal
and woe.

CXLVI. Like Chaucer, the poet is interested in the Predestinarian contro
versy. 4. "Wrething," variant of "writhing" : cf. cvii. 7 and cxxii. 3.
" Wrething" also means "making angry," Legends of Saints, iii. 58, but
this meaning is not appropriate here. The stanza is difficult to explain,
and W.'s "that" for "it," in 7, does not mend matters j while "and,"
in 6, seems superfluous. " Whatever may be the truth about Fortune and

144 NOTES TO THE KINGIS QUAIR

her cuts, some scholars expound that your whole lot is pre-ordained in
heaven, by whose mighty influences you are impelled to movement less
or more there in the world (for this very reason calling that lot fortune)
because the difference of the working of these influences should cause
necessity, i.e., bring about a necessary result."

CXLVII. 4. For same Kentish form, see ix. 3 and xliv. 4. 6. " That " seems
more apt than " the." 7. " According to (divine) purpose thus calling
them fortune." " Cleping " qualifies "clerkis" in line i. Cf. close of
stanza cxlix.

CXLVIII. i. "Knawing" may be either gerund or provincial form of
" knawin." 5. " Anerly," a common form of " onely," would amend
the metre.

CXLIX. 6. "And commune" should be " in commune," as in cxlvii. 6.

CLI. 3. MS. reading "quod he" shews a lapse from autobiographical stand
point. But, as scribal slips are numerous, it would be unfair to base an
argument upon he. 4. " Straught as ony lyne " : cf. Flower and Leaf,
1. 29. Cf. C. T. E. 2230. Tytler quotes Paradise Lost, iv. 555 sqq.

CLII. 4-6. Cf. R. R., 11. 122-27.

CLIII. 1-4. Highly elliptical. "That" wants verb, and relative nom. to
" lap " is also wanting. 3. " Lap," pret. of " lepe " ; cf. Burns' Hallowe'en,
"lap the hool," leapt the husk : ct. Chaucer, P. F., 11. 183-89. 7. "Ges-
serant," a coat or cuirass of fine mail, is found also as " gesseron," " ies-
seraunt," O.F. " jazerant." See s.v. Mayhew and Skeat's Concise Dictionary
of Middle English.

CLIV. 3. W.'s "syde" is better rhythmically than S/s "longe."

CLV. i. For lion as king of beasts, cf. Dunbar, The Thrissill and the Rois,
st. 13-16. 2. The panther is compared to the emerald because of its
beauty. In O.E. Bestiary statement is :

Panter is an wilde der

Is non fairere in werlde her.

The Panther is therefore the symbol of Christ, who is fairer than all
others. 3. Neckam, De Naturis Rerum, C. 124, opens his account of the
squirrel with this characteristic : " Arguituretiamdesidiae ignavia hominis
torpens, dum scuruli providam solertiam non attendit." 4. Ibid. C. 140 :
"Asinus animal oneriferum mancipium servituti addictum." 6. "Keen-
eyed lynx" : ibid. C. 138 : "Lynx acumine visus perspicue novem fertur
parietes penetrare." On the rhinoceros or unicorn, Ibid. C. 104 : "Refert
autem Isidorus quod tantae est fortitudinis ut nulla venantium virtute
capiatur. Virgo autem proponitur puella, quae venienti sinum aperit,
in quo omni ferocitate deposita ille caput ponit sicque soporatus, velut
inermis capitur." Neckam returns to the subject in his De Laudibus
Divinae Sapientiae, 11. 167, 168 :

Rhinoceros capitur amplexu virginis
Consimili renuat proditione capi.

CLVI. 2. This line recalls Neckam's opening verses on tiger as above,
11. 127, 128 :

Tigris, sublato foetu, velocior aura
Instat atrox, sed nee segnius hostis abit.

"Fery": S. explains as "active," and connects with Iceland \cjaerr: cf.
King Horn, 1. 149, "hoi and fer," the modern Scots "hale and fere."
3. "The elephant who loves to stand." In O.E. Bestiary (E. E. T. S.)

NOTES TO THE KINGIS QUAIR 145

this epithet is explained by account given of habits of elephants, 11. 620
sqq. They bring forth in a standing position ; when they fall they have
no power to rise, and as they lean against trees to rest, the hunter saws
these almost through, so that when elephants rest they may fall by the tree
giving way. 4. See Chaucer, N. P. T. 5. "The high hills are a refuge
for the wild goats," Ps. civ. 18. Looking to the literary origin of many
of these allusions to animals, one is disposed to find in "elk for alblas-
trye " a reference to horn-tipped bows. It is even possible that the poet
knew about the use of horns tor bows. Perhaps he had read somewhere
of the bow of Pandarus.

CLVII. 2. My colleague, Dr. Soutar, suggests the reading "martrik sable,"
which is in keeping with the scheme of epithets in these stanzas. Same
reading is found in N. E. D. 5. " The wolf that does not hesitate at
murder." "Ho" as equivalent to "halt" or " pause n is found in The
Bruce, xx. 1. 429, "And sa he did withouten ho." See also Gower, C. A.
vii. 571, 5438. In Chaucer, C. T. A. 2533, "Ho" is the signal for
silence and attention. In same tale, A. 1706, Theseus " cride Hoo !"
commanding Palamon and Arcite to pause. Cf. also Q. J. 566. 6. Beaver
is characterised in C. 140 of Neckam's De Naturis Rerum.

CLVIII. 3. S., Introd., p. xxxiii, suggests that "furth" may be read as dis
syllabic. W. thinks this strained, and not in accordance with ordinary
sense of " furth," as adverb. He suggests " by," but cxxvi. i would indi
cate "to" as more appropriate, or even "unto" with light extra syllable
in middle of verse.

CLIX. 2. " A round place and y-wallit " is suggested as alternative to
"rounde." 3. "Eftsones" mends metre: it is found as trisyllable in
xlii. 2. One might venture to read " In myddis (monosyllable) quhare-of
eftsonCs." 4. "Hufing": "waiting," cf. The Bruce, xix. 345, "He gart
hufe to byd thar cummyng" ; also ibid. 585, "He swa abaid hufand"j
and L. L. 1046. 6. "Vpon" before, or "thar" after "quhich" would
mend the metre.

CLX. 2. S.s "vnto" and W.'s "diuerse" both amend the rhythm, but putting
"mony" before "diuerse" and reading "semyt" as monosyllable (see
clxiii. 3) would be more in keeping with poet's manner. 4. S.'s conjecture
for filling lacuna is excellent, but the amended text given is supported by
xcvii. 6, 7, and xcv. 7.

CLXI. Another instance of run-on stanza, i. S.'s suggestion "eremyn" as
sound of word commends itself. 3. "Chiere," for countenance, is not
so common as "cherfi," but it is several times found in Gower, C. A.

4. " And than," " thus " probably from line above, " It would relax."
CLXII. 7. The absence of contraction in "I ne wist" may be compared with

The Flonuer and the Leaf, 1. 104, " Ne wist I in what place I was." Cf.
C. T. E. 1490.
CLXIII. 3. "Strong," "hard," "severe," seems as apt as "strange" to which

5. alters the text. 4. "Thareon" instead of "than" amends sense and
metre.

CLXIV. i. We must either read "quhele" with W. or take "void" as dis
syllable, or both, for sake of rhythm. 2. W.'s suggestion commends
itself. "Straight from the lowest point to the highest there was little
vacant space on the wheel." 2, 5. With "hye" rhyming to "hye,"
cf. clviii. 2, 4, " mynd," "mynd." 3. " Had " before " sat " is given as an
alternative to " longfi " and "into place." 6. "Tofore" is suggested as
an alternative to "so sore."

CLXV. 3. "It" seems more appropriate than " thaim " as object to "hath

16

146 NOTES TO THE KINGIS QUAIR

y-thrungin." 5. Taking "euer" as dissyllable makes vocal final e in
" newe" " unnecessary.

CLXVI. 4. The conjectural reading in text is slightly more musical than MS.,
and "hailsing" or embracing a goddess seems hardly in keeping with the
poet's humility. " Half abashed for shame " is more apt. Cf. xlix. 5.
CLXVII. 5. " Along and across," i.e., " through my whole being." The
phrase is used in the Knight's Tale in description of the doors of the
Temple of Mars :

The dores were al of adamant eterne
Y-clenched overthwart and endelong
With iren tough.

CLXVIII. 3. "Bot" is here equivalent to "nothing but," "only." 7. On
poet and chess, see Introd., p. Ivii, also Charles d*Orle"ans, Poeme de la
Prison, Ballade Iviii., 11. 1-9.

CLXIX. 5. "Stale." It is difficult to reject the meaning stale mate, as the
chess metaphor is repeated in this stanza, and it fits the situation because
in stale mate neither the King nor any other piece can be moved. A
parallel passage is hard to find. In Reson and Sensuallyte, 5901-3, we read :
Whan the play I-ended was
Atwex hem two, thus stood the cas :
Without a maat on outher syde.

"Stalle," found also as " stal " and "stale" (vid. Mayhew and Skeat's
C. D. M. E.) means place, station, prison. Cf. next st. 3, "y-stallit."
6. " Without joy (or prosperity) from the fates."

CLXX. 2. Accenting " wantis " and " confort " makes addition of final 6 to
"hert" unnecessary. For omission of rel. before "suld," cf. xvii. 5.
;, 6, 7. A very difficult passage, and possibly in 7 corrupt. S. takes

f T\ 99 •*_* !_.*_ ft 1 £ I _ . A. » ££ I.

who takes " dert " as a verb. W. alters " quhere " to " thare," explains
" aspert " as a derivative from O.F. esperdre, " to be astonished " ; makes
" be " a prep, and translates : " Though thy beginning has been retro
grade " — i.e., " Though thou at the beginning of thy life course hast
been kept back and oppressed by shameful men who opposed it, now
shall they turn round in stupid astonishment and fall in the mud." But
" be " is probably imperative of verb and aspert is appert, open, and the
closing words of 7 may be " Luke's on the dert," dert being, as Jamieson
asserts, a verb. A possible rendering is, therefore : " Though the early
part of thy love-suit has had opposition, be obstinate, resolved, and like
wise open, now the fates shall turn and dart looks upon thee." This is
certainly far from satisfactory, not least so from the fact that " dart " as
verb in this figurative sense is not found early. In N. E. D. the earliest
passage quoted is from Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis^ 1. 196. 7. A couplet
in Chaucer (C. T. D., 75, 76) suggests a widely different and certainly a
more poetic rendering :

The dart is set up of virginitee,
Cacche who so may, who renneth best lat see.

Professor Skeat, in his notes to these lines in his edition of Chaucer,
interprets "dart" as "prize," and he quotes Lydgate, Falls of Princes,
fol. xx vi. :

And oft it happeneth he that hath best ron
Doth not the spere like his desert possede.

NOTES TO THE KINGIS QUAIR 147

He mentions also that on the margin of the Ellesmere MS., at this point,
there is a quotation from S. Jerome : " Proponit dywvoQtnjs praemium,
imiitat ad cursum, tenet in manu uirginitatis brauium, et clamitat qui
potest capere, capiat." In the foot-race in the Aeneid (Book V.) Cretan
darts are a part of the gift made to all the ninners. " Goal " would suit
our poet's context even better than "prize," and would form an appro
priate contrast to a " retrograde beginning/'

CLXXI. 5. " Prime," early part of day, 6 to 9 a.m. S. makes this allegorical.
It may well refer literally to conversation with Venus about the natural
time of day when imaginary conversation was taking place.

CLXXII. i. "Tho tofore" is better than "this tofore." !< Tho " gives
antecedent to "That" in 2. 4. Cf. Q. J., 11. 216-7. 4, 5. Rhymes "fall,"
"fall." See clviii. 2, 4, clxiv. 2, 5.

CLXXIII. This reference to conflict is by S. compared to Chaucer, T. and C.
iv. 302-8. For thought on spiritual character of soul, cf. R. R. 5653
sqq., and on conflict between flesh and spirit, S. Paul, Ep. Galat. v. 17.

CLXXIV. i . Reading " couert," and taking it as p.p. of " coueren," to recover,
W. translates : " When I came to myself, I thought actually to see all
that had happened in my dream-vision." The pret. and p.p. " couerit "
is common, and pret. occurs in Christis Kirk on the Grene, st. xiii. : "Than
with thre routes sone thay raisit him, And couerit him out of swoune/'
But " Touert " is probably the MS. reading. " Mene " means either
" I intend " or " I grieve." If latter be preferred, rendering would be :
" I grieve to consider all this matter bearing upon myself."

CLXXV. 3. MS. "in" naturally suggests "into" as metrical amendment.
7. " Avisioun" : cf. Book of Duchess, 285.

CLXXVI. 4. In MS. " humily " is written as in cvi. 4, without stroke over
u and with curl to i, thus, J. 5, " More " is redundant.

CLXXVII. 3. With coming of dove, cf. Mart d' Arthur, xi. c. 2 : " And
anon there came in a dove at a window, and in her mouth there seemed
a little censer of gold." Also In Memoriam, ciii., st. 4 :

Then flew in a dove
And brought a summons from the sea.

" Calk " is common Northern form. 7. See note on st. xxxiv. Accent
ing kalcndis makes change in text unnecessary.

CLXXVIII. i, 2. Cf. T. G., 1. 593 sqq,, where Venus casts hawthorn
branches into lady's lap. 4. " Lettris " would be more apt than " branchis."
Cf. Legends of the Saints, xliii. 109-11 :

And in his hand bare a buke

J>e quhilk rycht fare ves on to luke

Vith goldene lettris wrytene brod.

CLXXIX. 4. See L. L., 1. 80. 6. " The flouris fair present " is an absolute
construction, and "present" is p.p., cf. civ. i.

CLXXX. i. "Quhilk" refers to all brought by dove, branch, green stalks,
writing. "It," in 3, refers to writing only.

CLXXXI.2. This line qualifies "paynis" in 3, and the rendering is : "Which
token truly thereafter, day by day, from henceforth did away the pains
which had before mastered all my wits." 7. As W. points out, " souiraine"
is demanded by rhyme.

CLXXXII. 2. "With so little justification (or equityV' Cf. Professor
Gregory Smith's Specimens of Middle Scots, p. 83, I. 20: "Held the
landis apon lytill evin and small title of rycht in thai times." 4. " Had

148 NOTES TO THE KINGIS QUAIR

once crept into heaven." "Crepen" in Mid. Eng. is found both strong
and weak. " Crepte," " creap," " crep," and " crope " are all found as
pret., just as in Mod. Scots both " crap " and " creepit " are used.
5. "O thank," i.e., "one thought." One would look for "of thank"
" from gratitude."

CLXXXIV. This stanza has no complete sentence and should possibly be
read " Beseche I," or there should be a comma after " felicitee " in
preceding line, and the whole thought in both stanzas should be con
nected with " I pray " in clxxxv. 4. Plainly the poet either had a finite
verb or thought he had one. W. connects with clxxxiii. 6. Once more,
as in i. 2, and Q. J., 11. 9, 10, we have pres. ipart. used like present or
pret. indie. 4, 5, 6. " His " violates concord in view of " brethir " and
" seruandis." Unfortunately one cannot venture to substitute Chaucerian
"her" or "hir." 5. Elliptical and grammatically confused. Venus is
asked to assuage the lover's pain and to direct events so that he may soon
stand in favour.

CLXXXV. 4. The abbreviated forms " prentissehed " and " prentis " are not
uncommon in M.E. and M. Scots. 7. "Lo !" a mannerism, see note
on xlix. 5

CLXXXVI. 2. Cf. L. L. 15. 3. "Has" with plur. nom., cf. cxliv. 6;
"curage at the rose to pull," cf. R. R. 3361-66 5 4069-80 ; 4117-28.

CLXXXVII. Lines 5-7 suggest the narrative of the King's death. 7. "From
the deth" : cf. L. L. 2959.

CLXXXVIII. 5, 6. " Remufe " seems passive in 5, but in 6 " bot onely deth "
implies that the poet treats it as active.

CLXXXIX. i. "Blisfull" : see cxcii. 4. 2. Tytler is little to be blamed for
reading " glateren," as only a magnifying glass shews that an apparent
a is it.

CXCI. 3. "Sanctis marciall," which S. interprets "Saints of the month ot
March," must be considered somewhat inapt after " castle wall " and
before " green boughs." " Marciall " invariably means " martial,"
"pertaining to war/' as in Chaucer, T. and C. iv. 1669: " torney
marcial," and "factis merciall" in the prologue to The Spectacle of Love
(Greg. Smith, Specimens 18, 1. 2). Indeed, "factis," by the simple sub
stitution of s for/ and writing a instead of a, would become " sanctis."
The alternative reading "factis marciall" is therefore given in note to
amended text. 4. " Accident," referring to his capture by enemies at
sea, as told in st. xxiv. 7. " Se " seems more apt than " be."

CXCII. 5, 6. See Introd., pp. liv, Iv, also for cxciii. 5-7.

CXCIV. Stock medieval apology, cf. close of Q. J. and of Flower and Leaf.

3. " Pray the reder " suggests a wide appeal.

CXCV. i. Reading as monosyllable, "cummyst" makes MS. reading "in

the presence" quite rhythmical. 3. "To here," cf. iv. i.
CXCVI. i. "Endith" for "endit." Cf. L. L. passim and Q. J., 1. 16.

4. "Sitt," "sitteth."

CXCVII. i. "Inpnis," even when amended to "impnis," connected as it is
with 11. 6, 7, has no meaning. Hymns have no souls and books are not
recommended to them. " Ympis," meaning "scions," gives good sense,
and recalls Chaucer's

Of fieble trees ther commen wrecched ympes (C. T. B. 3145).

2. See Introd., pp. Ix-lxvi, for debt to Gower and Chaucer, and on
omission of Lydgate as one of poet's masters.

NOTES TO THE QUARE OF JELUSY.

The scribal slips in the MS. text of this poem are relatively few, and there is
no such elementary scheme of punctuation as in the larger portion of the text
of the Kingis Quair. The actual text, but with modern pointing and initial
capitals to proper names, is given in the poem as printed. Suggested textual
amendments and the more important variants of the Bannatyne Club editor
are given in the footnotes. Many of his deviations from the JV1S. are errors
of transcription. Overlining of letters in MS. text of both Quairs is erratic,
often indeed meaningless, but in this respect the Quare of Jelusy is the worse
of the two. In the text as printed, overlining is therefore shewn only where
it is fairly clear and emphatic.

i. Sqq. Opening, on a morning in May, and many little descriptive touches
may be compared with opening of Romaunt of the Rose and of The Goldyn
Targe of Dunbar, as well as with that of L. L. and K. Q., for contrast.

3, 4. Cf. Goldyn Targe, 65, 66, "Felde . . . bene." "Bene" often used for
"is," L., L. 1. 46.

6. Cf. Chaucer, L. G. W., B. 123-127 :

Forgeten had the erthe his pore estate
Of wyntir, that him naked made and mate,
And with his swerd of cold so sore greved.
Also Squire's Tale, 1. 57 :

Agayne the swerd of winter kene and cold.

7. The date is the 9th of May, cf. Squire's Tale, 1. 47 : " The last Id us

of March."

9, 10. "Ascending . . . and forth his bemys sent." Concord demands either
"ascendit" in 1. 9, or "had" for "and" in 1. 10. For similar construc
tion cf. K. Q. i. 2, and clxxxiv. i.

13. Cf. Knight's Tale, 11. 182-189 ; ibid. 699 ; T. and C. ii. 112.

14. Cf. K. Q. x. 2. 1 8. " Ayer" is dissyllabic.
23-26. Cf. K. Q. x. i sqq. 26. Cf. K. Q. cxvi. 2.
29. "And power has," cf. Ballad of Good Counsel.

35-45. Cf. K. Q. xxxiii., xl. sqq. 39, 40. Cf. T. G. 276.
41. "Gudliare," K. Q. xlix. 3.

44. Cf. Knight's Tale, 1. 242 : K. Q. xlii., xliv.

45. Cf. Dunbar, G. T., 1. 133.

52. " Sche sor/owit/sche sik't/sche sore/compleyn/it."

59. "Goddesse Imeneus." One of many instances in Middle Scots poetry
of ignorance of classical mythology. Cf. 1. 313 ; K. Q. xix. 3 ; and
xx. i sqq., and Henryson's O. and E. 11. 30, 31. Poet might have
seen picture or statue of girlish-looking Hymenaeus, and have supposed
the god a goddess. Cf. Chaucer, C. T. E. 1730-1 : " Ymeneus that god
of weddyng is."

149

ISO NOTES TO THE QUARE OF JELUSY

62. Frequent use of "quhy" as a noun is common to Q. J., K. Q., and L. L.

63. "Under your rigorous law." For use of "strong" in this sense (French
fort), cf. K. Q. Ixviii. 3 ; vid. also Gower, Conf. Amant. v. 7377-8, quoted
in Introd., section iii.

64. " As certainly as (I am) here in thy presence."

71-2. "Pluto and his derk regioun." Cf. Chaucer, C. T. A., 2082, and
C. T. F. 1074 sqq. :

Prey hire to sinken every rok adoun

Into hir owene dirke regioun

Under the ground ther Pluto dwelleth inne.

71-74. Vid. Ovid, Metamorph. v.

82. With prayer to Jupiter, cf. K. Q. xxv. 6, 7.

83. "And wote," necessary for metre and grammar.
86. "Ilk," every, is demanded by the context.

88. Cf. L. L. 922.

89. " Ane othir dancef cf. 1. 226 ; also K. Q. xlv. 48, and clxxxv. 2.
102. Cf. L. L., 1. 841.

in. "Hir allone." Kindred constructions are found: "Walkand your
allone," and fl thair allane," by themselves. Vid. Gregory Smith, Speci
mens of Middle Scots, p. 68, 18, and p. 67, 12.

121. Use of interrogation. Cf. L. L. 160. See Introd., section iii.

122. "Quhy," as noun. Cf. 1. 62.
130. Cf. K. Q. Iviii.

122-132. Cf. Chaucer's Squire's Tale, 450-452 :

Is this for sorwe of deeth or los of love ?
For, as I trowe, thise ben causes two
That causen most a gentil herte wo.

137. With "cherlisch" cf. Chaucer, C. T. F. 1523.

1 6 1-2. A commonplace with Chaucerians English and Scottish. Cf. 11. 185-6.

172. The death of Hercules, after his poisoning by the shirt of Nessus sent

by Deianeira, is described by Ovid, Metamorph. ix. ; vid. also Temple of

Glas, 787-8 ; Black Knight, 344 5 Chaucer, Monk's Tale, 3285 sqq. ; C. T. D.

725-6 ; Gower, Conf. Amant., Bk. II. 2298^302.
173-4. Nero slew himself only when he realised that his pursuers were near

at hand, Suetonius, Nero, 48, 49.

176. Charon's boat, presumably.

177. Cf. Chaucer, P. F. 7.

180. Rhythm demands a trisyllable instead of " menyt." " Inuyit," a con
jectural reading, suits the rhythm, is like "menyt" in form, and gives
an intelligible meaning.

185-6. Vid, supra 161-2.

191. Invocation may be compared with K. Q. xiv.

194. "I" probably taken down from line above. "Ay" is demanded by
context : " who are always void."

198. "Ony" is given as conjectural reading for "mony," which implies a
something contradictory to the poet's thought.

203. "Suffering," for "sufferen." Cf. 228 and 369 ; also L. L. 443, 2971.

212. "At your myght," i.e., "to the utmost of your power."

216-7. Cf. K. Q. clxxii. 3, 4.

218. "Into this erth " a mannerism in Q. J. Cf. L. L. 2874, and passim.

220. " Worldis," for "wordes," requires no defence.

221. "Ne were," cf. K. Q. clxii. 7.

NOTES TO THE QUARE OF JELUSY 151

222. Proverbs xii. 4, and xxxi. 10-31 ; also Ecclesiasticus xxvi.

223. The verse is incomplete; a syllable is wanted after " worth." Supply
ing "is" gives the meaning "much honour is from their rule."

226. " Apoun ane othir dance." Cf. 1. 89, and K. Q., as above.
228. "Suffren," Midland, pres. plur.
242. " His," lapse from concord. 251. " Jflck't."

267. "Anker in the stone," i.e., " nun (or monk) in the cloister." Cf. English
Poems of Charles d'Orldans, p. 260, Roxburghe Club Edition :

A sely anker that in the selle

I-closid art with stone, and gost not out.

272-3. "Sche . . . they." Cf. 11. 104-5.

284. For spy of the jealous person cf. R. R. 4285-7 :

Ther hath ordeyned lelousye
An olde vekke forto espye
The maner of his governance.

285. One must either read "tallls," which is an unusual pronunciation, or
supply some such word as " }it " before " no."

289. "As far as he can bring it about."

295. Cf. Chaucer, The Compleynt of Faire Anelyda upon Pals Arcyte, 87.

300. Must read either "into old " or "in olde." Cf. Chaucer, P. F. 24.

303. "Verreis." The form of this word would indicate the meaning "wars,"
or " makes war," but the context seems to demand " wearies." " For
Solomon says to him who fancies that there is always something behind,
and grows weary of holding fast by the nature of love."

307. "That hot," so hot. Cf. K. Q. xlii. 3.

311. "Ecco," vid. for story of Echo, Ovid, Metamorph. iii. 356 son. ; Gower,
Conf. Amantis, v. 4573-4652. Chaucer, C. T. E. 1 189-90— Envoy to
Clerk's Tale :

Folweth Ekko, that holdeth no silence,
But ever answereth at the countretaille.

313. " Thesiphone," vid. above,!. 59, and note in loco; also note on K. Q. xix.

318-23. "Sydrake . . . Bokas King." The book, which is entitled Bocchus
and Sidrake, is thus described in Brunei's Manuel de Libraire : "This
curious book, in which to very singular questions are made answers sjill
more singular." There are one thousand and eighty-four questions. The
first edition was printed at Paris in 1486. It was translated into English
by Hugo Caumpden, and published by Thomas Godfrey, probably in
1560. There is a MS. of the French original in the Bodleian Library
(MSS. Bodl. 461): "Le livre de Sydrac le philosophe, apelle" livre de la
Fontane de totes sapiences." It is thus characterised : "Est quasi systema
totius philosophiae naturalis et Astrologicae." A manuscript English
translation is also in the Bodleian (MSS. Laud. 559). The book takes
its title from the chief characters in the narrative leading up to the
didactic portion which forms the body of the treatise. Bocchus is an
Eastern potentate, King of Bactria in the great Ind. He has an enemy,
King Garab, who rules over the greater part of India. Against this
enemy Bocchus had begun to fortify a city, but what was built by day
was cast down by night. By the advice of his lords and commonalty
he sent for astronomers and philosophers, promising rich rewards to the
counsellor who should enable him to overcome the mysterious hostile
power which produced this portent. The astronomers asked for forty

152 NOTES TO THE QUARE OF JELUSY

days to consider the matter. Their prudent delay notwithstanding, they
were able to give but barren counsel, and were therefore thrown into
prison. This failure delighted Garab, who now sent to demand the
daughter of Bocchus " to be his fere." But the proposal so enraged
Bocchus that he killed the messengers, and caused proclamation to be
made, offering his daughter in marriage and very great treasure to any
man who could get him out of his difficulty. As he was sitting in
heaviness an old man appeared, who promised to help him, saying that
he desired no reward. He told the king that a messenger must be sent
to Tractaban for the book on Astronomy which Noah had in Ottylye. He
was to ask at the same time for the loan of the astronomer Sydrak.

Tractaban received the messenger gladly. He knew about the old
book which had belonged to Noah. This book told of something on
a hill which had the remarkable property of enabling anyone who came
to it to do whatever he would. He had never reached the hill him
self, but he knew that Bocchus was powerful and would succeed. He
accordingly sent him the book and Sydrak.

On his arrival Sydrak told Bocchus that the land was bewitched. He
advised him to find a hill far in the land of Ind, the Raven's Green-
hill, to which Noah had despatched the raven in search of dry land.
The hill was four days' journey in length and three days' journey in
breadth, and it lay near the country of the Amazons. On it grew
twelve thousand herbs, four thousand good, four thousand bad, and four
thousand neither good nor bad. The people of the land were strange
to look upon, for they had human bodies and hounds' faces. And in
order to gain one's heart's desire one must seek among the good herbs
without ceasing to find the right herb.

King Bocchus rejoiced, and resolved to undertake the journey. On
the thirteenth day he arrived at the foot of the Raven's Greenhill, where
he rested for three days. He had to fight the inhabitants, and after a
stout struggle he was victorious. Now Bocchus was a heathen and knew
not God, but Sydrak believed in the Trinity. Bocchus had taken his
"maumetts" with him, and he took out these idols and offered sacri
fice on the eighteenth day after he came to the hill. Sydrak, seeing
this, wondered, and from wonder he passed to rage, and refused to offer
any sacrifice save to Him who made heaven and earth. At this point
he suggested a prayer-competition between himself and an idolator.
Sydrak prayed to God to overcome the devil, and fire came down from
heaven and destroyed the idols, and killed one hundred and twenty
persons, the devil himself escaping with a great cry. King Bocchus, who
barely escaped, was so angry that he cast Sydrak into prison. There he
lay for nine days, and, in spite of strenuous effort on the part of Bocchus
and his Council to make a pagan of him, he clave to his religion, and
was comforted by an angel who promised that the prisoner should yet
convert King Bocchus.

The angel showed Sydrak the manner of going to work. He was
to procure an earthen pot, and set it on three stakes in the name of
the Trinity. He was to fill the pot with clear water, and invite the
king to look into the water. As Bocchus did this, he saw the Trinity
in heaven, and the angels standing round. Bocchus believed, but asked
how could Three be in One, and he was told to consider how the Sun
and Light and Heat are one.

A fresh disputation with the representatives of idolatry followed, and

NOTES TO THE QUARE OF JELUSY 153

Sydrak was victorious. He was given poison to drink, but the poison
did not hurt him. His opponents were killed by thunder and lightning.
Bocchus was thought by his people to be mad, but he adhered to his
Christian profession and was instructed by Sydrak.

The body of the book is taken up by Sydrak's answers to the many
questions put to him.

330. "Feuir that is cotidiane." Cf. Gower on Jealousy in Conf. Amantis%
Bk. V. 11. 429-634, and particularly 463-4 :

So as it worcketh on a man

A Feivre, it is cotidian.

334-5. " Herubus . . . J>at of Inuye the fader is." This statement about
Erebus comes directly or indirectly from Cicero, De Natura Deorum,
iii. 17 : "Quod si ita est Coeli quoque parentes dii habendi sunt, Aether
et Dies, eorumque fratres et sorores, qui a genealogis antiquis sic nomi-
nantur, Amor, Dolus, Metus, Labor, Invidentia, Fatum, Senectus, Mors,
Tenebrae, Miseria, Querela, Gratia, Fraus, Pertinacia, Parcae, Hesperides,
Somnia : quos omnes Erebo et Nocte natos ferunt."

344. '• Ay to the worst he demith." Cf. Chaucer, Squire's Tale, 1. 224 :

They demen gladly to the badder end.

351. Book of Daniel i. 11-16.

355. "Tygir," cf. Squire's Tale, 543 :

This tygre fill of doublenesse.

360. "Which Christ calls the wedding garment," S. Matt. xxii. 1-14.

361. "Without wtiich."

362. "But he misses the joy and the feast."
363-5. i Corinthians xiii. " Most," " greatest."
366. " Chapture," an unusual form for " chapitre."

374. "Lyvith" and " birnyth," used for pres. indie, plural, like Scottish

"lyvis" and "birnis." Cf. K. Q. cxviii. 4.
378. Two syllables needed to complete measure. Suggested reading, "Thare

cummith suich " fits context and amends metre.
382-6. This fifteenth-century Scottish criminal is not named in any of the

older histories.

391-3. For construction cf. Chaucer, C. T. D. 925-930, and ibid. 257-261.
396-400. S. Matt, xviii. 7-9.
401. Cf. Chaucer, C. T. H. 314-5, and 332-3 :

Daun Salomon, as wise clerkes seyn,
Techeth a man to kepen his tonge weel

* * * *

The firste vertu, sone, if thou wolt leere,

Is to restreyne and kepe wel thy tonge.

401-2. Among poets who write on government of tongue is the author of
the Ballad of Good Counsel :

Sen word is thrall, and thocht is only fre
Thou dant thy tung, that power has and may.

Cf. also Henryson in Aganis Hauty Creddence ofTitlaris. S. James iii. was
probably also in poet's mind.

403. Cf. Epistle of S. James iii. 2 : "If any man offend not in word, the same
is a perfect man."

154 NOTES TO THE QUARE OF JELUSY

404. Cf. Chaucer, C. T. D. 775-779 :

" Bet is,'* quod he, " thyn habitacioun

Be with a leoun or a foul dragoun,

Than with a womman usynge for to chyde."

" Bet is," quod he, " hye in the roof abyde,

Than with an angry wyf doun in the hous."

404-6. Cf. Ps. Ivii. 4, and Ecclesiasticus xxv. 16 : "I had rather dwell with a
lion and a dragon than to keep house with a wicked woman."

414- "Tak kepe," cf. C. T. E. 1058.

415-21. A pardonable hyperbole. Vid. Proverbs vi. 34 and Canticles viii. 6.

422. sqq. The Emperor Henry II. of Germany (S. Henry). The story of his
jealousy of his empress, Cunegunda, is told in the Legenda Aurea. The
tale of the ordeal of Cunegunda, of Henry's danger after death, and of
S. Lawrence's intervention for his salvation, is told in the Scottish Legends
of the Saints under S. Laurence. See S. T. S. edition, ed. Metcalfe, i.,
pp. 422-424.

432. Hiatus, "the ilk." Cf. K. Q. clxii. 7.

443. " Usith " rhymes with "ariseth." This pronunciation is still found in
certain N. Scottish dialects, where " use " is eece. " Use of," in the sense
of French user de is an uncommon idiom.

446. See above note on 391.

458. "The tone," i.e., <f that one." " Harmyth to," imitation of Latin
construction, to shew dative.

462. " Scland'rith," "feyn'th."

464. " Euill " here, as almost invariably, a monosyllable.

467. Cf. Lydgate, Temple of Glas, 148, "Serpent of fals Jalousye " } also T. G.
interpolated stanzas between 495, 496, Schick's edition, p. 21. Chaucer,
C. T. F. 511-12.

468-9. Cf. Douglas, ii. 171, Prologue to Aeneid, Bk. IV.

469. " Thou lovith," " thou feynyth." Apparently a false analogical form.
Regular Scots inflection is "lovis," "feynis." Cf. 553 and 541.

474. Context demands "verray," not "euery."

479. Similarly " his," not " this."

480. With "althirmost" cf. "althir best," L. L. 109.

493. "Provith," for "provit," as in L. L. Cf. K. Q. cxcvi. i ; L. L. passim.
516-7. "Who shall bewail in their weeping, evening and morning, those who

see beforehand, but who yet afterwards run to their own sorrow."
524. "Soundith vnto gude. " Cf. Chaucer, C. T., Prologue 307 : "Sowninge

in moral vertu was his speche" ; also L. L. Prologue 149 : "Quhich

soundith not on to no heuynes." Cf. Chaucer, C. T. H. 195 : "That

sowneth into vertu."
533. "Sewe" seems preferable to "schewe," as what the poet means is "to

pursue," not "to show."

536. "For if it please you." "Lestith," cf. K. Q. 9, 147.

537. "To drinkyn of the tonne." Cf. Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 214 :

Wei ofter of the welle than of the tonne
She drank.

C. T. D. 170, and P. F. 104.
541. "Hath thou." See note on 1. 469. "Danger" means "scorn" or

"disdain."
543. Interpreting the text as it stands in the MS., we have "and expels all

thy love in penance," etc. Reading " lyfe " for " lufe," we have " and

NOTES TO THE QUARE OF JELUSY 155

all thy life continues henceforth in penance," etc. Cf. K. Q. xx. 7,

"Upward his course to driue in ariete."
548. Cf. Chaucer : "The swerd of sorwe, y-whet with fals plesaunce" (Compl.

of Faire Anel. 212). L. L. 29 : "The dredful suerd of lowis hot dissire."
549-50. Cf. K. Q. xiv. 6 sqq. The natural image is "weltering" rather

than "walking."

551. "And knows not how to proceed or where to find a haven."
553. "Passith." See above, 469, 541.
557. "Fyir" is dissyllabic. In K. Q. and Q. J. many words like "fyir,"

"ayer," "fair," are occasionally dissyllabic, as they are in certain dialect-

forms to this day. "Fire" is monysyllable in 599.
560. " By your own resolve." 561. " Consum'th."
563-6. The passage is elliptical and obscure. "For since it is so (or 'true

it is,' reading « suth '), you do not fail merely in one of the two aspects of

your being, that is to say with respect to your earthly life ; but you shall

suffer in woe always, thereafter to be punished eternally, without ceasing.

And very fitting it is that you should be so punished. He is your master j

the Father of Hatred, from whom comes every evil purpose, whose love

you always very busily preserve, rewards and serves you according to

your desert/'
566. "Ho,"cf. K. Q. clvii. 5.

581. " Quho hath the worst," i.e., "who takes the worse part."

582. The Epilogue gives a stock poetic conclusion. Cf. K. Q. and T. G.
589. "Levith" is better than "beleu'th." "Leave the diction, and accept the

purpose of the poem."
591. "Turment," p.p. "tormented."
597-607. The whole spirit of this conclusion may be contrasted with K. Q.,

clxxxi.-cxci., where the happy lover is at peace. Cf. also T. G.

1393 sqq.

GLOSSARIAL INDEX

The Parts of Speech are indicated by the usual abbreviations. References to
the several poems are given thus: K. (Kingis Quair), J. (Quare of Jelusy),
C. (Ballad of Good Counsel). To the first the reference is by stanzas, to
the others by lines. A word introduced into the text is marked a.r.,
alternative reading.

A, adj. one, K. 64, J. 15.

A, prep, on, K. 20.

Abaisit, Abaist, v.p.p. abashed, K. 41,
166.

Abandoun, s. abandon (Fr.), aban
donment, K. 25.

Abate, s. attack, surprise, K. 40.

Abhominable, adj. abominable, J.

255-

Abit, v. 3. s. pres. abideth, K. 133.
Abufe, adv. above, K. 184.
Abune.prep. above, J. 103.
Accident, s. happening, incident,

K. 191.
Accorde, v. agree, be fitting, K. 92,

J- J34, 567-

Acquyte, v. requite, J. 315.

Adoun, adv. down, passim.

Aduert, v. shew, announce, K. 25.

Aduertence, s. attention, knowledge,
control, K. 108.

Affray, s. terror, fright, fray, K. 185,
C (a) 4.

Agane, Agayn, Agaynis, prep, against,
K. 29, J. 6, 34, 80, 230.

Agayn, adv. again, K. 7.

Agit, adj. aged, K. 83.

Agone, v. p.p. ago, K. 196.

Airly, adv. early, K. 23.

Alawe, adv. below, down, K. 35.

Alblastrye, s. collect, weapons, cross
bows, K. 156.

Aleye, s. alley, K. 32.

Alight, v. pret. alighted, K. 61.

All, adj. all, passim; every, K. 87.

Allace, interj. alas, J. 61, K. 57, passim.

Alleris, adj. gen. pi., O.E. ealra, of
all, K. 113.

Allone, adj. alone, J. 19.

Allutterly, adv. all utterly, entirely,

wholly, K. 129.
Almous, adj. alms in adjective sense,

charitable, J. 424.
Als, adv. also, J. 382.
Als, conj. as, J. 37, K. passim.
Alssone, adv. as soon, K. 174.
Althirmost, adv. most of all, J. 480.
Amaille, s. enamel, K. 48.
Amang, Among, adv. occasionally,

by turns, K. 33, 66, 81.
Amang, prep, among, J. 322.
Amene, adj. pleasant, J. 18.
Amongis, prep, amongst, K. 121.
Amorettis, s. pi. flowers of some kind,

love-knots (?), K. 47.
And, conj. if, K. 161. 6.
Ane, adj., one, a, an, J. 66, 89, a.r.,

K. passim.

Anerly, adv. only, K. 148, a.r.
Anewis, s. pi., wreaths, rings, K. 160.
Anker, s. anchor, K. 100.
Anker, s. anchorite, nun, J. 267.
Anon, Anone, adv. immediately, J. 94,

K. 61, passim.

Aport, s. bearing, conduct, demean
our, K. 50, 177.
Apoun, prep, upon, J. 93, 106.
Appesare, s. appeaser, one who allays,

or mitigates, K. 99.
Aquary, Aquarius, a sign of the

zodiac, K. i.

Araisit, v. p.p. raised, K. 75.
Arest, s. stop, pause, K. 61.
Argewe, v. argue, reason with, K. 27.
Ariete, ablative of Aries, sign of the

zodiac, K. 20.

Armony, s. harmony, K. 33, 152.
Artow,y. andpron. artthou, K. 58, 173.

156

GLOSSARIAL INDEX

157

Ase, s. ass, K. 155.

Aspectis, s. pi. aspects, K. 99, 107.

Aspert, adj. open (?), astonished (?),

K. 170 : see note.
Aspye, v. espy, K. 31.
Assay, s. attempt, attack, K. 89.
Astert, v. move suddenly, flee, escape,

J. 12, 68, K. 44.
Astert, v. pret. of above, K. 40.
Astonait, astonate, v. p.p. astonished,

K. 98, 162.

Atonis, adv. at once, K. 68.
Atoure, prep, over, K. 81.
A-tuo, adv., in two, J. 548.
Atyre, 5. attire, K. i, 46.
Auaile, v. avail, J. 16.
Auaille, Avale, v. fall down, descend,

J. 101, 217 : see Vale.
Auance, v. advance, promote, assist,

K. 50. 79, 156.
Aucht, Aught, v. pret. ought, J. 414,

K. 120, passim.

Auenture, s. fortune, experience, ad
venture K. 10, passim.
Auise, Avise, v. tell, take heed, warn,

J. motto, J. 445, K. passim.
Avise, s. advice, K. 22.
Aw, v. owe, C. (b) a.r. 20, owest.
Awayte, s. waiting, watching. K. 121,

J. 467.

A-werk, on work, to work, K. 4.
Awin, adj. own, K. 12.
Awite, v. blame, J. 248: see Wyte.
Aworth, adv. patiently, in good part,

K. 6.
Axis, s. fever, feverish attack, K. 67 :

see Excesse.
Ay, Aye, adv. ever, always. K. and

J. passim.

Ayer, s. air, J. 18, 103.
Aygone, v. p.p. ago, gone, J. 264.

Bade, v. pret. prayed, K. 72.
Balance, s. doubt, K. 142.
Balas, s. pi. kind of ruby, K. 46.
Band, s. fetter, chain, captivity, K. 43.
Barane, adj. barren, bare, J. 523.
Bare, s. bear (usual Scots form for

boar is bare), K. 157.
Batailis, s. pi. battles, K. 85.
Be, prep, concerning, by, J. 511, 528,

K. 20.
Be, v. inf. ind. pres. and p.p. be,

passim.

Beautee, s. beauty, J. 37, K. 47.
Bede, v. bid, J. 398.
Bedis, s. pi. prayers, K. 62.
Befill, v. pret. befell, K. 80.

Begile, v. beguile, K. 90.
Begone, v. p.p. beset, befallen, hap
pened, K. 30, 64.

Begonne, v. p.p. begun, J. 536, K. 34.
Begouth, v. pret. began, K. 13, 98.
Behald, v. behold, J. 108, K. 53.
Beleue, v. leave, miss, fail of, J . 361.
Beme, s. beam, J. 10, K. 151.
Bene, v. pres. indie, and inf. be, passim.
Bening, adj. benign, J. 196.
Bere, v. bear, K. 131.
Bereve, v. bereave, deprive, J. 392.
Beschade, v. shade, K. 32.
Beseche, Beseke, v. beseech, J. 187,

K. 184.
Besene, v. p.p. arrayed, adorned, J.

36, 277.

Besid, prep, beside, K. 179.
Best, s. advantage, inclination,

choice, K. 5.

Beste, s. beast, K. 27, 155.
Besy, adj., busy, K. 64.
Besynesse, s. activity, K. 155.
Bet, adv. better, K. 101.

Bete, v. beat, J. 554, K. 122.

Betid, v. befallen, K. 179, a.r.

Beugh, Bew, s. bough, K. 32, 35,
passim, J. 22.

Bill, s. beak, bill, K. 178.

Bill, s. petition, K. 82.

Birn, v. burn, J. 151, K. 168.

Blake, adj. black, K. 161.

Blamischere, s. blemisher, person
who injures, K. 140.

Elude, 5. blood, K. 40.

Boece, Boethius, K. 3.

Boith, conj. J. 40, passim.

Bonk, s. bank, T. 20.

Boke, s. Buke, book, K. 5, passim.

Bore, s. boar, K. 156.

Bore, v. p.p. borne, K. 181.

Borowe, s. dat. sing, pledge, K. 23.

Bot, conj. but, J. 44, passim.

Bot, But, prtp. without, except, K.
94, J. 216, 359, 361 ; nothing but,
only, K. 1 68.

Bot gif, conj. unless, K. 132, 195.
But, unless, J. 143.

Bote, s. boat, K. 18.

Botemles, adj. without bottom, K. 70.

Boundin, v. p.p. bound, K. 61.

Branche, $. branch, pi. branch is,
ornamentation, K. 178.

Brede, breadth s., K. 21.

Bref, adj. brief, K. 127.

Breke, v. break, K. 115.

Brent, Brynt, v. p.p. burnt, J. 172,
370, 448.

i58

GLOSSARIAL INDEX

Brethir, s. pi. brethren, K. 184.

Bricht, adj. bright, J. 38, passim.

Brid, s. bird, K. 65, 135.

Brocht, v. p.p. brought, J. 207.

Brukill, adj. brittle, changeable, un
reliable, K. 134.

Brukilnese, s. fragility, brittleness,
K. 194.

Bugill, s. ox, K. 157.

Buket, s. bucket, pail, K. 70.

Busk, s. bush, K. 135.

Bute, s. remedy, K. 69.

Butles, adv. without remedy, K. 70.

By, prep, see Be, concerning, K. 70.

Byd, v. pray, call, invite, K. 65.

Cace, s. case, fortune, K. 143.

Calde, adj. cold, K. 69, 103.

Calk, s. chalk, K. 177.

Calyope, Calliope, K. 17.

Cam, Come, v. pret. came, J. 48, in,

K. 60.
Can, v. began, do, did, J. 93, 401,

K. 4.

Can, v. knows, K. 106, 133.
Capis, s. pi. capes, K. 81.
Capricorn, sign of the zodiac, K. i .
Carefull, adj. full of care, anxious,

K. 100, J. 26.

Carolis, s. pi. carols, K. 121.
Cart, s. car, chariot, J. 73.
Cas, s. case, quiver, K. 94.
Caucht, v. pret. caught, J. 426.
Certeyne, adj. certain, assured, K.

138-

Ces, Cesse, v. cease, J. 410, K. 59.
Chamberere, s. chamberlain, K. 97.
Chamelot, s. camlet, K. 157.
Chapellet, s. chaplet, K. 97, 160, 95.
Chapture, s. chapter, J. 366.
Chere, Chiere, s. countenance, smile,

mirth, J. 49, 219, 272, passim, K.

161, passim.

Cherising, v.s. cherishing, J. 126.
Cheritee, s. charity, J. 342, 364.
Cherlisch, Churlisch, adj. churlish,

J. 138, 143.

Chesyn, v. choose, J. 495.
Cheualry, s. chivalry, J. 215.
Cheyne, s. chain, K. 183.
Chiere, s. chair, K. 94,
Chose, s. choice, K. 92, 147.
Cinthia, the moon, K. i, suggested

reading.

Circulere, adj. circular, K. i, 196.
Citherea, Venus, K. i.
Clene, adv. altogether, wholly, K. 45.
Cleo, Clio, K. 19.

Clepe, v. call, J. 169, K. 149.

Clere, adj. bright, K. i, passim.

Clergy, s. learning, scholarship,
J. 320.

Clerk, s. scholar, man of learning,
J. 317, K. 146, 147.

Cleuer, v. cling, hold on like a bird,
K. 9, 159.

Clip, v. embrace, K. 75.

Clymbare, adj., climbing, K. 156.

Clymben, v. climb, K. 163.

Come, v. : see Cam.

Commend, s. commendation, J. 84.

Commytt, v. p.p. committed, K. 196.

Compace, v. encompass, entangle,
K. 141.

Compacience, s. sympathy, compas
sion, K. 118, 150.

Compas, s. extent, circuit, K. 96, 159.

Compiloure, s. compiler, author, K. 3.

Compleyne, s. complain, J. 30.

Comprise, v. comprehend, confine,
K. 28.

Compt, v. count, C. (b) 10.

Condyt, s. guidance, guide, con
ductor, K. 113.

Confort, s. comfort, K. 25, 123, 170,
177, 191.

Confort, v. comfort, K. 4.

Connyng, s. cunning, skill, J. 162,
K. 18, 50

Connyng, adj. skilful, prudent, K. 97.

Conquest, v. p.p. conquered, K. 100.

Consate, s. conceit, conception,
thought, J. 343.

Consecrat, v. p.p. consecrated, K. 33.

Consequent, s. issue, result, con
clusion, K. 189.

Conserue, v. keep, K. 112, J. 570.

Constreyne, v. constrain, compel, J.
26, K. 116.

Contempne, v. contemn, J. 193, 308

Contenance, s. demeanour, behaviour,
countenance, K. 50, 82, 121.

Contene, v. behave, continue, J. 357.

Contrair, Contrare, a. and s. J. 166,
482, K. passim.

Contree, s. country, K. 24, 151.

Conueye, v. direct, turn, convey, K.
104, 120.

Conuoye, v. conduct, accompany,
lead, K. 19.

Convert, v. change, transform, J. 5.

Conyng, s. coney, K. 157.

Copill, s. stanza, K. 33.

Coplit, v. p.p. coupled, K. 92, 93.

Corage, Curage, s. courage, K. 164,
1 86.

GLOSSARIAL INDEX

Corinthies, s. pi. Corinthians, J. 363.
Corrupt, v. p.p. corrupted, J. 535.
Cotidiane, adj. quotidian, returning

daily, J. 330.
Couate, v. covet, K. 142.
Couch, v. set, trim, adorn, K. 46.
Coud, Coude, Couth, Couth t, v. fret.

could, passim, K. 196, knew (?) K. 2.
Couert, v. p.p. recovered, K. 174.
Counsale, Counsele, s. andv. counsel,

J. no, 574, K. 3.
Counterfeten, v. counterfeit, K. 36,

135-

Cowardy, s. cowardice, K. 89.
Craft, s. skill, K. 2.
Cremesye, s. crimson cloth, K. 109.
Crep, v. creep, C (a), 12, p.p. croppin,

K. 182.

Cristin, adj. Christian, K. 142.
Crukit, adj. crooked, K. 195.
Cum, v. come, cummyth, commyth

3 sing, pres, ind. cummyn, p.p.,

passim.

Cupid, Cupid, K. 43.
Curall, adj. coral, K. 153.
Cure, s. care, charge, J. 461, K. 22.
Cuttis, s. pi. lots, K. 145.

Dampne, v. damn, condemn, J. 400.
Dangere,s. displeasure, scorn, danger.

J. 541, K. 64, 149.
Dant, v. tame, subdue, C. (a) 10.
Dare, Dane, v. dare, J. 292, K. 140.
Dayesye, s. daisy, K. 109.
Decretit, v. p.p. decreed, K. 179.
Dede, s. deed, J. 328.
Dedely, adj. deathlike, K. 26, 169.
Dedeyne, v. deign, K. 168.
Dee, v. die, K. 57 : see Deye.
Defade, v. cause to fade, dispirit, K.

170.

Defaute, s. defect, deficiency, K. 194.
Degoutit, v. p.p. spotted, K. 161.
Degysit, v. p.p. disguised, K. 81.
Deite, s., deity, K. 105.
Delitable, adj., delightful, K. 192.
Delyte, s. pleasure, delight, K. 6.
Demyng, v.s. judging, misjudgment,

J. 242.
Depart, v. separate, sever, part, K.

92.
Depaynt, v. and v. p.p. paint, painted,

K. 43. J.4-

Dere, adj. dear, J. 130.
Dert, s. dirt (?), prize, goal (?), K. 170.
Dert, v. dart (?), K. 170.
Desate, Dissayte, s. deceit, K. 135,

J.468.

Despeire, Dispaire, s. and v. despair,

K. 30, 104.

Destitude, adj. destitute, J. 523.
Determe, v. determine, resolve, K. 13.
Deuise, v. plan, devise, K. 28, J. 243.
Deuotly, adv. devoutly, K. 62.
Dewe, adj. due, K. 1 19.
Deye, v. die, K. 103.
Digne, adj. worthy, K. 125.
Direct, v. p.p. directed, K. 62.
Dirknesse, s. darkness, K. 71.
Discryve, v. describe, K. 4, 16.
Disese, s. pain, discomfort, J. 77.
Displesance, s. displeasure, K. 82.
Dispone, v. dispose, J. 266, 573.
Disport, s. game, sport, K. 134.
Ditee, s. utterance, message, ditty

K. 36, 62.
Do, v. p.p. do, done, do, cause, J. 13,

35i.
Doken, s. dock plant, K. 109: see

note.

Doubilnesse, s. doubtfulness, dupli
city, K. 1 8, 136.
Doun, adv. down, passim.
Dout, s. doubt. J. 450.
Doutfull, adj. timid, hesitating, K. 17.
Draware, s. drawer, creature that

draws, K. 157.
Drawe, v. p.p. drawn, K. 82.
Dredefull, Dredfull, adj. full of fear,

timid, K. 126, J. 554.
Dresse, v. arrange, prepare, array,

K. 153, 156, 173, 175.
Druggare, adj. draught, drudging,

K. 155-

Drye, adj. dry, K. 69.
Duell, v. dwell, K. 68.
Dure, s. door, K. 75.
Dyane, Diana, J. 77.

Ecclesiaste, Ecclesiastes, K. 133.

Ecco, Echo, J. 311.

Eche, pron. each, K. 8.

Eene, s. pi. eyes, C (a), 10.

Effray, s. terror, fright, C. (b), 4.

Eft, adv. again, afterwards, K. 10.

Efter, prep, after, J. 428, according
to, K. 147, for, in expectation of,
K. 104.

Efter, adv. afterwards, J. 91.

Eftsone, Eftsones, adv. soon after
wards, K. 42, 159.

Ellis, adv. else, K. 57.

Emeraut, s. emerald, K. 46.

Enbroudin, v.p.p. embroidered, K. 152.

Encress,Encressyn,v. increase, C.(a),
i, J- 269.

i6o

GLOSSARIAL INDEX

Endlang, Endlong, prep, along, K. 81,

152, 167.

Endyte, s. style, J. 584.
Eneuch, adj. enough, K. 47.
Engrewe, v. annoy, J. 604.
Enprise, s. enterprise, undertaking,

K. 20.

Enquere, v. inquire, J. 305.
Ensample, s. example, J. 387, K. 148,

172.

Enspire, v. inspire, J. 318.
Ensure, v. assure, K. 9.
Entent, s. purpose, intent, J. 589,

K. 13, 56.

Entere, adj. entire, K. 62.
Entrit, v. p.p. entered, K. 185.
Erde, Erth, s. earth, J. 124, 142.
Ere, s. ear, K. 152, 172.
Eschame, v. to be ashamed, J. 256.
Escheve, Eschewe, v. escape, avoid,

J. 271, 475.
Ese, s. ease, J. 77.
Esperus, the Evening Star, K. 72.
Est, adj. east, K. 20.
Estate, s. estate, high position, K. 3,

Passim.

Estward, adv. eastward, J. 34.
Esy, adj. easy, K. 95.
Eterne, adj. eternal, K. 107.
Ethena, Etna, J. 337.
Euerich, Euerichone, pron. everyone,

K. 27, 64.

Euour, adj. ivory, K, 155.
Euirilkone, pron. everyone,}. 416.
Evin, s. evening, K. 73.
Evin, adv. exactly, K. 21.
Evinly, adv. exactly, K. 177.
Evyn, s. justification, equity, K.

182.

Excesse, s. : see Axis, K. 144.
Exill, v. banish, C. (a), 5, K. 117.
Exiltree, s. axletree, K. 189.
Eye, s., pi. eyen, eyne, eene, K. 8,

passim, J. 58, passim.

Facture, s. fashioning, mould, K. 50,

66, K. 125, a.r.

Fader, s. father, J. 430, K. 122.
Faille, s. defect, K. 48.
Faille, v. fail, be deprived of, K. 26.
Fair-Calling, s. prop., Salutation, Be-

welcome, K. 97.
Faire, adj. as s. fair one, K. 66.
Fairhede, s. beauty, fairness, J. 133,

K. 1 06, a.r.

Falouschip s. fellowship, J. 576.
Falowe, s. fellow, companion, K. 23.
Fand^ v. pret. of fynd, found, K. 79.

Fantasy, s. fancy, imagination, J.

575, K. 11, 37.
Fantise, s. deception, K. 142, for

feyntise.

Fatall, adj. fated, destined, K. 196.
Fatoure, s., for faitour, pretender,

impostor, literally, doer, K. 135.
Faucht, v. pret. fought, K. 85.
Fay, s. faith, K. 59.
Fayn, adj. fain, glad, K. 195, passim.
Faynt, v. p.p. feigned, K. 141.
Fede, v. feed, J. 215. Fed, p.p. K. 14.
Felde, s. field, J. 3.
Fele, s. feeling, perception, J. 250.
Fer, adj. far, J. 404.
Fere, s. companion, J. 19, K. 155.
Fere, s. fear, K. 162 : see Vere.
Ferforth, Ferfurth, adv. K. 25, J.

289.

Ferm, adj. firm, K. 138.
Fery, adj. active, vigorous, K. 156.
Fest, adv., fast, K. 61.
Fete, s. pi. feet, K. 159.
Feynit, v. p.p. feigned, K. 36.
Flawe, v. pret. flew, K. 61.
Flete, v. float, J. 177.
Flikering, v. pres. part, fluttering, K.

I73-

Flour, Floure, s. flower, passim.
Floure, v. flower, K. 133, 193.
Floure-Ionettis, s. pi. lilies, K. 47.
Flouris, s. flourish, flower, K. 187.
Flyte, v. scold, J. 312.
Fonde, v. try, seek, K. 127.
Fone, s. pi. foes, K. 71.
Forby, adv. past, usual meaning in

modern Scots besides, K. 30, 31.
Forfet, s. forfeit, fault, crime, K. 92.
Forfaut, v. p.p. forfeited, K. 141.
Forge, v. fashion, shape, K. 47.
Forget, v. p.p. forgotten, K. 120.
Forehede, s. forehead, probably error

for fairhede, K. 106.
Foreknawin, v. p.p. foreknown, K.

148.
Foreknawing, s. foreknowledge, K.

149.
For-lyin, adj. exhausted with lying

long, K. ii.

For-pleynit, adj. weary of complain
ing, K. 73.

Foriuge, v. condemn, K. 3.
Forquhy, c. because, wherefore, K.

41, 108.
Forsake, v. forsake, K. 63, v. p.p. K.

58 ; pret. forsuke, K. 89.
Forthir, adv. further, K. 99, passim.
For-tirit, adj. very tired, K. 30.

GLOSSARIAL INDEX

161

Fortunyt, v. j>ret. and p.p. fortuned,

happened, fortunate, K. 191, 133.
For-wakit, adj. wide-awake, K. n.
For-walowit, adj. fatigued with rolling

from side to side ; much tossed

about, K. ii.
For-wepit, adj. tear-stained, tired

with much weeping ; Modern Scots

begrutten, K. 73.
Foting, 5. footing, K. 9, 163.
Foyn^ee, s. beech-marten, K. 157.
Fremyt, adj. strange, K. 24.
Frese, adj. for ferse, fierce, J. 152.
Fret, v. pret. arrayed, adorned, K. 35.
Frete, v. p.p. devoured, eaten ; see

Y-fret,J.555.

Fret-wise, by way of ornament, K. 46.
Fricht, v. p.p. frightened, K. 162.
Fude, s. food, K. 30.
Fundin, v. p.p. found, K. 169.
Furrit, v. p.p. furred, trimmed with

fur, K 161.

Furth, adv. forth, passim.
Furthward, adv. forward, K. 17.
Furth-with-all, adv. immediately, K.

I3-

Fute, s. foot, J. 68.
Fyre, 5. end, J. 345.
Fyre, Fyir, s. fire, T. 337.
Fyre, adj. hardened by fire, K. 48.

Can, v.pret., began, did, J. 113, K. 10.
Gardyn, Gardyng, s. garden, K. 31, 33.
Gayte, s. goat, K. 156.
Gelosy, s. jealousy, J. 381: see

Jelousye.

Gerafloure, s. gillyflower, K. 190.
Gesse, v. guess, conjecture, J. 43,

K. 180.

Gesserant, s. armour, K. 153.
Geve, Gif, Gife, If, Ife, Ifl. Iffe, conj.

if, J. 70, 137, passim ; K. 60, 195,

passim.

Gilt, s. guilt, J. 8 1.
Gilt, v. p.p., sinned, offended, K. 26,

38-

Gin, Gyn, v. begin, K. 17, 57.
Glad, Glade, Gladin, v. gladden, K.

62, 174, 190, J. 129 ; s. joy, K. 21.
Glettering, adj. , glittering, J. 102.
Glewis, s. pi. tricks (reading suggested

by Professor Skeat), K. 160.
Goste, s. spirit, J. 117, K. 173.
Gouernance, Gouirnance, s. conduct,

rule, K. 88, 196.
Graip, v. grope, C. (b), 19.
Grame, s. sorrow, J. 290.
Gre, Gree, s. degree, K. 21, 83, J. 10.

Gree, s. favour, K. 59.
Gref, s. grief, K. 127.
Gress, s. grass, C. (b) n.
Crete, adj. great, J. 198, passim.
Greuance, s. affliction, J. 202.
Grey, s. badger, K. 156.
Grippis, s. pi. grips, hold, K. 171.
Gruche, v. grudge, grumble, K. 91.
Grundid, v. p.p. grounded, J. 192.
Grundyn, v. p.p., ground, sharpened,

K. 94.

Gud, Gude, Guid, adj. good, passim.
Gude, s. good, blessing, K. 20.
Gudis, s. pi. goods, property, J. 368.
Gudeliare, Gudliare, adj. more goodly,

J. 41 K. 49.

Gudelihede, s. beauty, K. 49.
Gudnese, s. goodness, K. 194,
Gyd, Gyde, s. guide, K. 63, 113, 195.
Gye, v. guide, K. 15, 106.

Hable, adj. able, K. 14.

Hable, v. enable, K. 39.

Habyte, s. garment, habit, J. 360.

Hailsing, v.pres.p. embracing, K. 166.

Haire, s. hare, K. 156.

Hald, v. p.p. haldin, hold, K. 60, 90,

147.

Hale, v. haul, pull, K. 169.
Hale, adj. whole, entire, K. 74.
Hale, Halely, adv. wholly, K. 58,

K. 188.

Halflyng, adv. half, K. 49, 166, a.r.
Haly, adj. holy, J. 423.
Hant, v. haunt, frequent, J. 326; s.

lair, K. 156.
Hap, s. good luck, K. 133 ; cf. Ruth,

ii. 3-

Hardy, adj. bold, K. 89.
Hare, s. hair, K. 157.
Harkyne, v. hearken, listen, hear,

C. (a), ii.
Hart, Hert, s. heart, J. ii, 26, passim y

K. passim.

Has, v. pi. pres. ind. have, K. 107.
Hastow, v. and pron. hast thou, K. 57.
Haterent, s. hatred, J. 568.
Hede, s. head, K. 34.
Hedit, v. p.p. headed, tipped, K. 95.
Hege, s. hedge, K. 31.
Hele, v. heal, K. 194.
Hele, s. healing, health, salvation,

K. 74.

Hens, adv. hence, J. 68.
Hennisferth, adv. henceforth, K. 181.
Hent, v. p.p. seized, K. 180.
Herbere, s. herbarium, garden-plot,

K.31,32-

•7

1 62

GLOSSARIAL INDEX

Herculese, Hercules, J. 172.
Here, v. hear, J. 46, passim.
Herknere, adj. listening, quick of

hearing, K. 156.
Hert, s hart, K. 157.
Hertly, adv. heartily, J. 582, K. 187.
Hertly, adj. hearty, enthusiastic, K.

121.

Herubus, Erebos, J. 333.

Hes, v. has, C. (b) 16.

Hete, s. heat, J. 557.

Heve, v. heave, K. i.

Hevin, Hevynnis, s. heaven, J. 58,

K. i, 196.

Hevynes, s. heaviness, J. 32.
Hewe, s. hue, J. 4, 106, K. passim.
Heye, Heigh, Hich, Hie. Hye, adj.

high, K., 66, passim, J. 44, 187 ;

Hyare, higher, K. 131.
Hicht, s. height, J. 216, K. 172.
Hider, adv. hither, K. 166.
Hing, Hyng, v. hang, K 88, 89.
Hip, v. hop, K. 35.
Ho, s. pause, stop, J. 566, K. 157.
Hole, adj. whole, J. 70, K. 18, 126.
Holsum, adj. wholesome, beneficial,

K. 156.

Hond, s. hand, J. 173.
Hony, adj. honey, sweet, K. 117.
Hort, s. hurt, injury, wound, K.

156.

Hote, adv. hot, J. 2.
Hudis, s. pi. hoods, K. 81, 88.
Hufing, v. pres. p., waiting, watching,

K. 159.
Huke, s. mantle, cloak with hood, K.

49-

Humily, adv. humbly, K. 106.
Humylnesse, s. humility, K. 126.
Hundreth, adj. hundred, J. 380, K.

180.

Hye, v. hasten, K. 15, 164.
Hye, s. haste, K. 30, passim.

I-blent, v. pret. blenched, K. 74.

Ide, s. Ides, J. 7.

I-fallyng, v : see note on stanza 45,

K. 45.
Ignorant, s. ignorant person, fool, J.

324-

I-laid, v. p.p. laid, K. 120.

Ilk, pron. every, J. 86, a.r.

I\ke}pron. same, with the or this or
that, K. 154.

I-lokin, v. p.p. closed in, K. 69.

Imeneus, Hymen, J. 59.

Incidence, s. , accidental detail, sub
sidiary matter, K. 7.

Indegest, adj. crude, K. 14.
Infortunate, adj., unfortunate, K. 24.
Infortune, s., misfortune, K. 5.
Inmytee, s. enmity, K. 87.
Inpnis,,s. pi. hymns, K. 197 ; pro
bably mistake for ' ympis '
Inuyit, v.p.p. envied, J. 180, a r.
Inymy, s. enemy, K. 24.
I-thankit, v. p.p. thanked, K. 190.
I-wonne, v. p.p. won, K. 108.
I-wys, adv. certainly, J. 281.

Jangill, v. jangle, chatter, K. 38.
Januarye, January, K. no.
^elousye, s. jealousy,], passim, K. 87.

enepere, s. juniper, K. 32.

ete, s. jet, K. 157.

ohne, John, K. 23.

orofflis, s. pi. gillyflowers, K. 178 :

see gerafloure.
Joye, s. joy, K. 19, passim.
Juge, s. judge, K. 182.
Jugement, s. judgment, trial, J. 428.
Junyt, v. p.p. joined, united, K. 133.
Jupiter, Jupiter, J. 82, K. 25.

Kalendis, s. pi. kalends, beginning,

K. 34, 177.

Kepe, s. heed, care, J. 414.
Kepe, v. heed, pay heed to, regard,

K. 141.

Kerue, v. carve, cut, J. 399.
Rest, v. pret. cast, K. 35, 40.
Keye, s. key, K. 100.
Kid, v. p.p. shewn, p.p. of kythe, K.

*37«

Knaw, v. know, K. 101.

Knet, v. p.p. knit, enclosed, inter

twined, K. 31.

Knytt, v. strengthen, brace, K. 194
Kythe, v. shew, make known, K. 56.

Lak, s. want, K. 15.
Lak, v. to be in want of, K. 84.
Lang, adj. long, K. passim.
Lang, v. belong, K. 106, passim.
Lap, v. pret. o/lepe, leapt, K. 153.
Large, s. freedom, K. 115.
Large, adj. widespread, J. 247.
Larges, s. freedom, liberty, K. 181.
Lat, v. let, J. 381.
Lauch, v. laugh, K. 179.
Laud, s. praise, K. 188.
Laurence, Saint Lawrence, J. 433.
Lawe, adj. low, K. 90, 103, below.
Lawe, s. law, K. 102, 105.
Le, v. lie, speak falsely, J. 471.
Lede, s. lead, K. 153.

GLOSSARIAL INDEX

• 63

Lef, s. leaf, K. 72.

Leme, v. shine, K. 46.

Lene, v.prel. lent, lenit, lean, K. 42,

191.

Lenth, s. length, K. 21.
Lere, v. learn, properly teach, K. 171.
Lest, 5. desire, K. 57.
Lest, v. impers. please, K. 9, 44, 147,

J- 536.

Leste, adj. least, K. 149.

Lesty, adj. pleasant, skilful, K. 157.

Leue, v. leave, K. 124.

Leve, v. live, J. 268.

Levis, 5. pi. leaves, J. 22.

Licht, s. light, J. 213.

List, v. please, J. 326.

List, v. border, edge, list, K. 178.

Lith, v. 3 sing. pres. lieth, lies, J. 356.

Litill, a Lytill, s. adj. little, J. 79,
passim.

Lokin, v. p.p. locked, caught, en
closed, K. 135.

Lore, s. learning, K. 186.

Louring, adj. scowling, frowning,
louring, K. 161.

Louse, v. adj. loose, K. 39, 43, 49,

"5-

Lowe, s. flame, K. 48.
Lowe, 5. law, J. 63.
Lufar, Lufare, s. lover, K. 179, J. 442.
Lufare, 5. as adj. amorous, K. 155.
Lufe, s. lover, J. 130.
Luke, s. v. look, K. 30, K. 170.
Lust, s. desire, pleasure, K. 65, J.

328.
Lusty, adj. pleasant, J. i, n, 101,

104, passim.

Lustyhede, 5. pleasure, J. 42, 252.
Lyf, s. living creature, K. 12.
Lyf, s. life, K. 25 passim.
Lyght, v. alight, K. 177.
Lyte, adj. little K. 155, passim ; as s.

'K. 2.

Lyvand, v. pres. part, living, K. 197.
Lyvis, s. gen. life's, a living being's,
K. 28.

Mach, s. match, K. 109.
Maidenhede, 5. maidenhood, virginity,

K.55-

Maij, s. May, J. i, 13.

Maist, adj. most, K. 182.

Maister, s. master, K. 197.

Maistow, v.andpron. mayest thou.K.
170.

Maistrit, v. pret. mastered, K. 181.

Maistrye, s. mastery, K. 37 ; master
piece, K. 66.

Make, s. mate, consort, J. 526, K. 35,

58, 64, 79.

Maked, v. pret. made, K. no.
Malancholy, s., melancholy, J. 327,

K. 58.

Manace, v. s. menace, K. 41, 96.
Marciall, adj. martial, warlike, K. 191.
Martrik, s. marten, K. 157.
Martris, s. pi. martyrs, K. 79.
Marye, s. gen. Mary's, K. 17.
Maugre, adv. against (our will), in

spite of (ourselves), K. 24.
Mekle, adj. much, J. 154, 184.
Mekly, adv. meekly, J. 201.
Mell, v. to mix, mingle, meddle, K.

145, 152-

Mene, s. mean, medium, K. 183.
Mene, v. mean, J. 193.
Mene, s. moan, J. 30, 516.
Ment, v. pret. of Mene, moaned, be
wailed, J. 146.

Menys, 5. plur. means, K. 107.
Menyt, v. (possibly mistake for

Inuyit), bemoaned, J. 180.
Merciable, adj. merciful, K. 99.
Mesure, s. moderation, temperance,

K. 50.

Mesure, v. measure, consider, K. 132.
Met, v. pret. of Mete, dreamt, K. 73.
Mete, adj. meet, fitting, K. 97.
Mich, adj. much, K. 51, 129, 150.
Minister, v. minister shew, manifest,

K. 43. ,

Minuerui^, s. gen. Minerva's, K. 124.
Mischewe, s. mischief, misfortune, J.

605.

Mo, adj. more, K. 42, 61, 97, in.
Moch, adj. much, K. 87.
Mon, v. must, J. 266, 286.
Mone, Moon, s. moan, K. 72, K. 45.
Mone, s. moon, K. no.
Moneth, s. month, K. 65, J. 7.
Mony, adj., many, J. 198, passim.
Monyfald, adj. manifold, K. 131.
Most, v. must, J. 226, 460.
Mot, v. may, must, K. 190, 191,]. 607.
Mote, v. may, J. 67.
Murn, v. mourn, K. 113, 118.
Murthir, s. murder, K. 157.
Mydday, s. meridian, Equator (?),

K. 21.

Myddis, Prep, amid, K. 32.
Myd-nyght, s. Meridian, K. i.
Myd-way, 5. Equator, K. 21, a.r.
Mycht, v. pret. might, could, J. 53.
Mylioun, s. million, K. 78.
Mynt, v. purpose, aim, M.E. munten,

A.S. gemyntan, K. 105.

i64

GLOSSARIAL INDEX

Na, adv. not, K. 67.

Namly, adv. namely, particularly,

K. g.

Nap, v. doze, sleep, K. 60.
Nas, v. ne was, was not, K. 75.
Nat, adv. not, K. passim, J. 278.
Ne, adv. , conj. nor, no, J. 84, 579.
Nede, s. need, J. 585.
Nede, adv. needs, J. 570.
Ner, Nere, adj. near, J. 402, 405.
Nero, s. Nero, J. 173.
Newis, s. pi. news, K. 179.
No, adv. not, J. 53.
Nobill-ray, s. nobility, C. (b), 2.
Noblay, s. nobleness, nobility, C. (a) 2.
Nocht, adv., not, J. 8.
Nold, v. ne wold, would not, K. 140.
Non, pron. none, J. 28, passim.
Note, v. ne wote, knows not, J. 551.
Nouthir, conj. neither, K. 13^.
Nowmer, s. number, K. 22.
Noye, v. annoy, J. 15.
I^urise, v. nourish, J. 2.
Ny, adv. near, J. 48.
Nyce, adj. foolish, simple, J. 533, K.

129.

Nycely, adv. foolishly, K. 12.
Nye, adv. nigh, K. 77.
Nyl, v. ne wyl, will not, K. 142.
Nys, v. ne is, is not, J. 85.

O, adj. one, K. 162, 182, J. 494.
Obseruance, s. observance, J. 13, K.

119.

Ocht, s. anything, ought, J. 502.
Off, prep, of, J. 39 passim.
Oftsyse, adv. oftentimes, J. 136, 181,

236.

Oliphant, s. elephant, K. 156.
Omere, s. Homer, K. 85.
One, adj., alone, K. 80.
One, adj. an, one, J. in.
One, prep, on, J. 113.
Ones, adv. once, K. 57.
Ony, adj. any, J. 125, 126, passim.
Onys, adv. once, K. 182,]. 422.
Or, conj. ere, K. 190, C. (a), 12.
Orfeuerye, s. goldsmith's work, K.

48.

Orisoun, s. prayer, K. 53.
Oureclad, v. clothed, J. 3.
Ouerthrawe, v. p.p. overthrown, K.

163.

Ouerthwert, adv. across, K. 82.
Guide, s. Ovid, K. 85.
Oure, prep, over, K. 143, passim. „
Ourehayle, v. overhaul, ponder, K.

10, 158.

Ourestraught, straight over, K. 164.
Ourset, v. overcome, K. 73.
Owin, adj., own, J. 533.

Pace, v. pass, K. 69.

Pace,- s. step, additional stage, or
story, K. 131.

Pall, v. appal, K. 18.

Pane, s. pain, K. 188.

Pape-jay, s. popinjay, parrot, K. no.

Part, v. depart, K. 67.

Part, v. divide, separate, p.p. partit,
awaked, K. 2, partly, K. 46.

Partye, s. part, K. 16.
j Partye, s. partner, match, K. 48.
I Pass, s. pace, step, J. 47.
j Passing, adj. surpassing, J. 317.
| Payne, Peyne, s. pain, J. 25, 140, K.
passim.

Pepe, s. ( peep/ a bird's cry, K/57.

Percyng, v. pres.part. piercing, K. 103.

Perfyte, adj. perfect, K. 125, J. 311.

Pertene, v. pertain, K. 107.

Pes, s. peace, K. 60, J. 287.

Phebus, s. the sun, K. 72.

Philomene, s. nightingale, K. 62,
phylomene, K. no.

Pitee, s. pity, J. 195.

Pitouse, adj. pitiful, K. 99, J. 95.

Plane, adj. plain, K. 36.

Playnly, adv. fully, lavishly, K. 65.

Plesance, s. pleasure, J. 79.

Plesandly, adv. pleasantly, K. 178.

Pleyne, v. complain, K. 90, 91, J. 132.

Pleyne, v. for pleyen, play, K. 40.

Pleyne, adj. manifest, evident, K. 116.

Pleyning, s. v. complaining, J. 96.

Plumyt, adj. plumed, feathered, K. 94.

Pluto, s. Pluto, J. 71.

Plyte, s. plight, K. 53.

Poetly, adj. probably mistake for
poleyt, K. 4.

Poleyt, adj. polished, a.r. K. 4.

Polymye, s. Polyhymnia, K. 19.

Porpapyne, s. porcupine, K. 155.

Port, s. harbour, gate, K. 17, 77.

Portare, s. porter, K. 125.

Pouert, Pouertee, s. poverty, K. 3, 5,
194.

Poure, v. pore, study, K. 72.

Prattily, adv. prettily, K. 153.

Pray, s. prey, K. 135.

Prentissehed, s. apprenticeship, K.
185.

Prese, v. to set a price, to be valued,
a.r., K. no.

Presence, s. presence (of a person of
distinction), K. 126, 195.

GLOSSARIAL INDEX

165

Present, v. p.p. presented, K. 170.

Preualy, preuely, adv. privately,
secretly, J. 45, 55.

Prime, s. early part of day : see
notes, K. 171.

Prise, s. praise, prize, honour, estima
tion, K 128, 188.

Priuely, adv. privately, secretly, K.
89.

Processe, s. proceeding, procedure,
undertaking, K. 19.

Proigne, s. Procne, K. 55.

Proserpina, s. Proserpine, J. 74.

Proyne, v. preen, clean, trim, K. 64.

Prye, v. pry, examine eagerly, K.
72.

Purchace, v. obtain, acquire, K. 59,
184.

Pure, adj. used as s. poor persons, J.
368 ; adj. K. 99, 101.

Puruait, v. p.p. provided, K. 23.

Purueyance, Puruiance, s. provi
dence, K. 130, 176.

Pyk, v. select, choose, K. 7.

Pyne, s. punishment, K. 28, ^55, 173.

Quair, Quare, s. book, title of poem

in MS., J. title.

Quake, v. shake, tremble, K. 47.
Quhat, pron. what, J. 32, passim.
Quhair, Quhare, adv. where, K. 190,

passim.
Quharefore, adv. conj. wherefore, J.

29, passim.

Quhele, s. wheel, K. 9, passim.
Quhens, adv. whence, J. 114.
Quhethir, conj. whether, J. 177.

euhider, adv. whither, J. 419.
uhilk, pron. which, J. 361.
Quhilkis, pron. pi. which, K. 62.
Quhill, conj. while, C. (b) 12, until,

K. 1 08.
Quhilom, adv. formerly, once upon a

time, K. 3, J. 74.
Quhilum, adv. sometimes, K. 107.
Quhilum, adv. at times, for a time,

K. 160, 161.

Quhirl, v. whirl, K. 165.
Quhistle, v. whistle, K. 135.
Quhite, a. white, K. 136, J. 40.
Quho, pron. who, K. 77.
Quhois, pron. gen. whose, J. 22.
Quhy, s. reason, J. 62, 122, 228, K.

8.7, 93-

Quikin, s. quicken, K. 181.
Quit, v. p.p. requited, rewarded, K.

128.
Quite, adv. altogether, K. 90.

Quit, Quite, v. p.p. acquitted, free,

quit, K. 6, 195.
Quod, v. pret. quoth, said, K. 151,

passim.

Quoke, v. pret. quaked, K. 162.
Quyte, v. acquit, J. 249.
Quyte, v. reward, C. (a) 7.
Quyte, adj. quit, free from, deprived

of, J. 362.

Raddoure, s. terror, fear, J. 449.
Rase, v. pret. rose, K. n.
Ravin, adj. ravenous, K. 157.
Rawe, s. row, K. 90.
Recist, v. resist, J. 230.
Reconforting, s. comfort, additional

comfort, K. 196.
Recouer, s. recovery, K. 5.
Recouerance, s. recovery, K. 87.
Recure, s. see Recouer, K. 10, 95.
Red, v. read, K. 196.
Rede, v. read, J. 422, passim.
Rede, adj. red, K. 46.
Reder, s. reader, K. 194.
Redy, adj. ready ,1K. 94.
Refreyne, v. refrain, control, J 402.
Reherse, s. rehearsal, account, K.

127.

Rekyn, v. reckon, K. 187.
Rele, v. whirl, same as wrele, K. 9,

165.

Relesch, v. relax, relieve, K. 184.
Relesche, s. relief, relaxation, K. 25,

150.

Remanant, s. remnant, K. 137, 171.
Remede, s. remedy, K. 69, 138.
Remyt, s. pardon, release, K. 195.
Renewe, s. renewal, K. 125.
Repaire, s. place of resort, gathering,

multitude, K. 77.
Reprefe, s. reproof, J. after 316.
Repreue, v. reprove, J. 265.
Requere, v. require, make request,

K. 195.

Resemble, v. compare, J. 43.
Ressaue, v. receive, K. 52, 123, 145.
Rethorikly, adv. rhetorically, ele
gantly, K. 7.
Retrograde, adj. backward, unpro-

pitious, K. 170.
Reule, Reulen, v. rule, K. 15, J. 350,

Reuth, s. ruth, pity, K. 137, J. 180.
Rew, v. pity, K. 63.
Riall, adj. royal, K. 125.
Richess, s. riches, J. 126.
*Rody, adj. ruddy, K. i.
Rois, s. rose, J. 39, passim.

1 66

GLOSSARIAL INDEX

Rong, v. p.p. rung, J. 396, K. 33.

Ronne, v. p.p. run : see Y-ronne.

Rought, v. pret. o/rek, cared, K. 27.

Rowm, adj. spacious, K. 77.

Rude, s. rood, cross, K. 139.

Rut, 5. root, C. (a) 2.

Rycht, adv. very, J. 36, 582, passim,

K. passim.

Ryght, adj. straight, right, K. 124.
Ryn, v. run, J. 517.
Rynsid, v. pret. rinsed, cleansed,

made pure, K. i.
Ryuere, s. river, J. 20, K. 150.

Sable, adj. or s. sable, K. 157.

Sad, adj. serious, grave, earnest, K.

96, J. 264.
Sakelese, adj. sackless, innocent, J.

83-

Salamoun, s. Solomon, J. 404.
Sail, v. shall, J. 248, K. passim.
Salute, v. pret. saluted, K. 98.
Salvatoure, s. Saviour, J. 434.
Samplis, s. pi. examples, J. 380.
Samyn, adj. same, J. 7, 366.
Sanct, s. saint, K. 23, 62, 191.
Saturne, s. Saturn, K. 122
Sauf, adj. safe, K. 143.
Saugh, v. pret. saw, J. 35.
Saulis, s. pi. souls, K. 123.
Scant, adj. free, void, J. 198.
Scele, s. skill, K. 7, a.r.
Schap, s. shape, K. 47.
Schape, v. shape, fashion, provide,

K. 69 ; Schapith, imper. K. 102.
Sche, pron. she, J. 39, passim, K.

passim.

Schene, adj. bright, sheen, K. 95.
Schent, v. p.p. disgraced, destroyed,

J- 390-

Schet, v. pret. shut, K. 8.
Schewe, v. shew, J. 166.
Schire, adj. bright, clear, K. 76.
Schold, see Schuld, J. 217.
Schouris, s. pi. showers, J, 2.
Schowe, v. push, J. 456.
Schrew, v. curse, J. 581.
Schuld, v. should, J. 100, passim, K.

passim.

Schuldris, s. pi. shoulders, K. 96.
Schupe, v. pret. shaped, fashioned,

K. 24.

Sclander, s. slander, J. 397.
Scole, s. school, K. 7.
Se, v. see, K. in.
Secretee, s. secrecy, K. 97.
See, s. sea, K. 22.
Seildin, adv. seldom, K. 9.

Sek-cloth, 5. sack-cloth, K. 109.

Seke, v. seek, K. 29.

Seke, adj. sick, K. 58.

Sekernesse, s. certainty, security,

K. 5.

Sekirly, adv. certainly, J. 65.
Sekirnesse, s. security, certainty, K.

Seknesse, s. sickness, K. in.

Seiuen, prcn. self, J. (72.

Sely, adj. simple, weak, K. 44, J. 235.

Sen, conj. since, J. 87, K. 44.

Sene, v. see, K. 67, passim, J. 97, 100.

Sentence, s. sentiment, opinion, J.

321, K. 149.

Septre, s sceptre, K. 107.
Sere, adj. several, many, J. 322.
Seruand, s. servant, K. 86, 113, 114.
Sett, Set, conj. though, J. 186,

504, passim.
Setten, v. set, K. 37.
Sevynt, adj. seventh, J. 7.
Sew, v. follow, J. 529, C. (a) 4.
Seyne, v. for seyen, say, K. 27.
Sichit, Sikit, v. pret. sighed, J. 52, 95.
Sicht, s. sight, J. 115.
Signifere, s. the zodiac, K. 76.
Sike, v. sigh, K. 44.
Simplese, s. simplicity, K. 194.
Sith, conj. since, J. 563.
Sitt, v. 3 sing. pres. ind., sits, K. 196.
Slake, v. relax, K. 161.
Slawe, adj. slow, K. 155.
Sleuch, v. pret. slew, J. 384, 391.
Sleuth, s. sloth, K. 119, 120, J. 12.
Slokin, v. quench, slake, K. 69, 168.
Sloppare, adj. slippery, K. 163.
Slungin, v. p.p. slung, K. 165.
Smaragdyne, s. emerald, K. 155.
Smert, v. ache, smart, K. 8.
Smert, adj. painful, J. 6.
Smert, s. pain, J. 100.
Snawe, s. snow, K. 67.
Sobir, adj. quiet, tranquil, earnest,

J. 18, 196.

Sobirly, adv. gravely, J. 47, 53.
Socoure, s. succour, K. 100.
Socht, v. pret. sought. K. 165, a.v.
Sodayn, adj. sudden, K. 40.
Soiurne, s. sojourn, abode, residence,

K. 113.

Solempnit, adj. solemn, K. 79.
Solitare, adj. solitary, J. 19.
Somer, s. summer, K. 34.
Sone, adv. soon, J. 217, passim.
Sonne, s. sun, J. 8, 24, K. no.
Souiraine, s. sovereign, K. 181.
Soun, s. sound, K. 13, passim.

GLOSSARIAL INDEX

167

Sound, v. tend, accord, J. 524.

Soyte, s. suit, dress, K. 64.

Spak, v. pret. spake, J. 53.

bpane, s. span, C. (a) 7.

Spang, s. spangle, buckle, K. 47.

Spede, v. profit, benefit, K. 28.

Spere, s. sphere, K. 76.

Sperk, s. spark, spot, small splinter,

K. 48.

Sprad, v. pret. spread, K. 21.
Spurn, v. kick, stumble, K. 186.
Stage, s. station, K. 9.
Stale s. stall, place prison, K. 169.
Standar, adj. fond of standing, K. 156.
Stant, v. stands, J. 301, passim.
Starf, v. pret. o/steruen, died, K. 139.
Staunt, see Stant, J. 483.
Stede, s. place, stead, K. 165.
Steik, v. close, stitch, C. (b), 7.
Stellifyit, v. p.p. made a star, K. 52.
Stent, v. Pret., variant of stynt, stop,

cease, K. 5.

Stere, s. pilot, ruler, K. 195.
Stere, s. guidance, K. 130.
Stereles, adj. without helm, without

helmsman (?), K. 15, 16.
Sterre, s. star, K. i, 99.
Sterue, v. die, J. 92.
Stond, v. stand, K. 88.
Stone, s. cell, cloister, J. 267 ; stone,

K- 72, 73-
Stound, s. short period of time, space,

K. 53, 118.
Stramp, v. tramp, tread firmly, C. (a),

12.

Strang, adj. strong, K. 149.
Straucht, Straught, adv. straight, K.

I5I, 158-

Streche, v. stretch, K. 169.
Streme, s. stream, K. 103.
Strong, adj. hard, rigorous, J. 123,

K. 68, adv.

Stude, v. pret. stood, K. 97.
Sudaynly, sodaynly, sodeynly, adv.

suddenly, J. 63, K. passim.
Sueuenyng, s. dreaming, suggested

reading, K. 174.
Suerd, s. sword, J. 486.
Suete-having, s. pleasant demeanour,

graciousness,]. 133.
Sufficiance, s. enough, K. 183.
Suffisance, s. sufficiency, competence,

J. 128, passim.

Suffrance, s. suffering, J. 25, 198.
Suich, Suche, adj. such, J. 66, 394,

407, passim.
Suld, v. should, J. 124, passim, K.

27, passim.

Suoun, adj. in a swoon, K. 73.
Supplee, s. help, assistance, J. 316.
Surcote, s. upper coat, K. 160.
Suspect, v. p.p. suspected, K. 137.
Susrene, v. sustain, J. 29, 234.
Suth, adj. sooth, true, J. 331, passim.
Syne, adv. afterwards, J. 384, K. 192.
Syne, adv. then, J. 501, 517.
Synthius (Cynthius), s. the sun, K. 20.
Syte, s. grief, suffering, J. 548.
Syttyn, v. sit, J. 155.

Ta v. take, J. 73.

Tabart, s. coat, tunic, tabard, K.

no.

Tak, v. p.p. taken, K. 193.
Take, v. p.p. taken, K. 90, J. 118.
Takenyng, s. token, K. 176.
Takin, s. token, K. 118.
Takyn, s. token, sign, K. 41.
Tald, v. pret. told, K. 23.
Teris, s. pi. tears, J. 102.
Termes, s. pi. language, expression,

diction, J. 185, 588.
Thai, pron. they, J. 265, passim.

Thai, pron. those, J. 113.
i, Tname,

. them

Thaim, Tham,

K. and J. passim.
Than, adv. then, K. 4, 63, J 88.
Thank v. thank, suggested reading,

K. 196.
Thank, s. thought, gratitude, act of

thanksgiving, K. 124, 182, 184.
Thare, adv. there, J. 28, passim.
That, adv. so, J. 307, K. 42.
Thedir, adv. thither, J. 421.
Ther-ageyne, against this, K. 91.
Thesi phone, s. Tisiphone, K. 19, J.

313-
Thidder-wart, adv. thitherward, K.

185.
Thilk, the ilk, the same, J. 86, K. 5,

119.
Thir, pron. these, J. 235, 237, K. 6,

passim.

Tho, adv. then, J. 14.
Tho,pron. those, K. 39, 172, a.r.
Thouch, conj. though, J. 171.
Thrall, adj. bond, C. (a) 8.
Thrawe, s. space, turn, K. 35.
Thre, adj. three, K. 22.
Thrid, adj. third, K. 95.
Throuch, prep, through, J. 67, passim.
Tiklyng, s. tickling, K. 21.
Till, prep, to, J. 526.
Tippit, v. p.p. tipped, K. 157.
Tissew, s. fine undergarment, K. 49.
To, adv. too, J. 438.

i68

GLOSSARIAL INDEX

To-fore, adv. before, J. 31, 517, K. i}

passim.

To-forowe, adv. before, K. 23.
To-gider, adv. together, K. 64.
Toke, Tuke, v. put. took, K. passim.
Tokening, s. token, sign, K. 119 ; see

takyn.
Tolter, adj. insecure, tottery, shaky,

K. 9.

Tolter, adv. in skaky fashion, K. 164.
Tone, v. p.p. taken, J. 418, 575.
Tone, in the tone, that one, the one,

J. 458.
Tong, s. tongue, language, J. 394, 409,

K. 7.

Tonne, s. cask, barrel, J. 537,
Touert, prep, toward, with regard to

alternative reading, K. i, 174.
Toure, s. tower, K. 31.
Toward, prep, with reference to, K. 46.
To-wrye, v. twist, turn, K. 164.
Traist, v. trust, K. 130.
Translate, v. transform, K. 8.
Trauaille, s. labour, K. 14.
Trauerse, s. screen ; see trevesse,

K. 90.

Trechorye, s. treachery, K. 134.
Trevesse, s. screen, K. 82.
Tueyne, adj. twain, K. 42.
Tuo, Two, adj. two, J. 113.
Turment, v.p.p. tormented,}. 62, 591.
Turment, s. torment, K. 19, passim.
Turture, s. turtle dove, K. 177.
Twies, adv. twice, suggested reading,

K. 25.

Twine, v. to twist, K. 25.
Twist, 5. twig, K. 33.
Tyde, s. time, K. 160.
Tyrane, s. tyrant, J. 278.

Vaille, v. avail, J. 502.

Vale, v. same as avale, descend, K. 172.

Varyit : see Waryit.

Variant, adj. unstable, changeable,

K. 137-

Venemyt, v. p.p. poisoned, en
venomed, J. 535.

Venus, s. Venus, K. 69, passim.

Veray, Verray, adj. and adv. very,
true, J. 333, K. 5.

Vere, s. spring, K. 20.

Vere, s. fear, J. 229.

Verreis, v. wearies, J. 303.

Vertew, s. power, force : see Vertu,
K. 74.

Vertew, s. virtue, K. passim.

Vertewis, adj. virtuous, C. 2.

Vertu, s. power, strength, K. 20.

Viage, s. journey, voyage, K. 15.
Virking, 5. working, activity, K. 188.
Vmbre, s. umbra, shadow, K. 134.
Vnconnyng, s. lack of skill, J. 587.
Vncouth, adj. unknown, strange, K.

63.

Vncouthly, adv. strangely, K. 9
Vndemyt, adj. unjudged, J. 268.
Vndertake, v. p.p. undertaken, K. 63.
Vnkyndenes, v. unkindness, K. 87.
Vnknawin, adj. unknown, K. 105.
Vnknawin, v. p.p. unknown, K. 45.
Vnknewe, Vnknowe, adj. unknown,

J- 64, 455, 529-
Vnnethis, adv. scarcely, with dim-

culty, K. 98.
Vnquestionate, adj. unquestioned,

K. 125.
Vnrypit, adj. immature, unripened,

K. 14.

Vnsekernesse, s. insecurity, uncer
tainty, K. 15.

Vnsekir, adj. uncertain, variable, K. 6.
Voce, s. voice, K. 74 : see Woce.
Void, v. dispel, expel, empty, K. 155.
Void, adj. vacant, K. 164.
Vre, s. luck, chance, K. 10.
Vschere, s. usher, door-keeper, K. 97.
Vse, v. use, in sense of being the

habit of, J. 443.

Vtheris, adj. pi. others, J. 358, passim.
Vtrid, v. p.p. uttered, expressed, K

132.

Waill, v. wail, J. 210.

Wald, v. would, K. passim. ]. passim :
see Wold.

Walk, v. wake, K. 173.

Walkyn, v. awake, J. 12, K. 173.

Wallowit, v. p.p. withered, C. 2.

Wan, v. pret. gained, K. 5.

War, v. pret. was, K. 182.

War, v. were, J. 171.

Ware, adj. wary, aware, K. 164.

Waryit, Varyit, v. p.p. cursed, ac
cursed, J. 80, 239.

Warld, s. world, J. 24, K. passim.

Wate, Wote, v. know, K. 60, J. 83.

Wawis, Wavis s. pi. waves, K. 16,
]• 550.

Wayke, adj. weak, K. 14.

Weill, s. wealth, prosperity, C. (a), 3.

Wele, adv. well, very, K. passim, ].
33, 36-

Wele- willing, s. benevolence, J. 125.

Wepe, v. weep, J. 57.

Werdes, s. pi. fates, destinies, K. 9,
169.

GLOSSARIAL INDEX

169

Were v. wear, K. 160.

Werely, adj. warlike, K 155.

Weren, v. pret. pi. were, K. 24.

Werk, s. work, K. no.

Wers, adj. worse, K. 95.

Wexit, v. pret. waxed, J . 98.

Weye, s. way, K. 86.

Wicht, s. wight J. 30, 134, passim.

Wickit, adj. wicked, J. 168.

Wikkitnese, s. wickedness, J. 240.

Wile, s. trick, treachery, K. 134.

Wilsum, adj. wilful, K. 19.

Wirken, v. affect, influence, K. 68.

Wise, adj. wise,}. 196.

Wise, Wyse s. way, J. 189, 190.

Wit, s. intellect, intelligence, J. 586.

Wit, v. know, J. 122.

Wite, v. blame, K. 183.

Witt, v. know, understand, K. 128.

Withoutyn, prep, without, J. 62,
passim.

Woce, Voce, s. voice, J. 58, K. 74, 83.

Wod, s. gen. woddis, wood, J. 21, 116.

Wode, adj. wood, mad, J. 171.

Wold, v. would, J. 145.

Womanhede, s. womanhood, J. 214.

Wonder, adv. exceedingly, marvel
lously, K. 96.

Wonne, v. p.p. won, K. 34: see
Y-wonne.

Wortis, 5. pi. vegetables, K. 156.

Wostow, v. and pron. wouldest thou,

K. 59-

Wrang, v. wrong, injure, K. 92.

Wrech, s. wretch, J. 299.

Wrechit, adj. wretched, K. 177.

Wrest, vt p p. tortured, twisted, K. 10.

Wreth, v. same as writh, K. 146.

Wring, v. lament, K. 57.

Writ, v. 3 sing. pres. writes, K. 133.

Write, s. writing, J. 583.

Writh, v. turn, direct, remove, K.

107, 122.

Writt, v. p.p. written, K. 196.
Wrocht, v. p.p. wrought, J. 41, K. 77.
Wrokin, v. p.p. of wreke, wreaked,

avenged, K. 69.

Wrye, on wrye, awry, aside, K. 73.
Wy, s. wight, J. 256, 275.
Wyce, s. vice, C. i (a), 5.
Wydequhare, adv. everywhere, J. 396.
Wyle, v. choose, K. 2, or s. device.
Wyte, s. blame, K. 90, J . 470.

Y-bete, v. beat : see note, K. 116.
Y-bought, v. p.p. bought, K. 36.
Y-bound, v. p.p. bound, J. 473.
Y-brent, v. p.p. burnt, J. 556.
Y-brocht, v. p.p. brought, J. 253
Y-callit, v. p.p. called, suggested

reading, K. 170.
I Y-come, v. p.p. come, J. 61.
Y-fret, v. p.p. devoured : see frete,

J- 548.

Y-gone, v. p.p. gone, J. 388.
Y-ground, v. pp. grounded, J. 474.
Y-like, adv. alike, K. 70.
Y-marterit, v. p.p. martyred, J. 370.
Y-meynt, t;. pp. mingled, J. 40.
Ympis, s. pi. imps, scions, offspring,

K. 197, a.r.

Ympnis, s. pi. hymns, K. 33.
Y-murderit, v. p.p. murdered, J. 174.
| Yneuch, adj. enough, J. 539.
Y-pynnit, v. p.p. pinned, K. 180, a.r.
Ypocrite, s. hypocrite, J. 469.
Ypocrisye, s. hypocrisy, K. 134.
Y-ronne, v. p.p. run, J. 540.
Ysamyn, adv. together, J. 113, O.E.

aetsomne.
Y-schapin, v. p.p. shaped, suggested

reading, K. 48.
Y-sett, v. p.p. set, J. 205.
Y-sett, conj. although, J. 349.
Y-slawe, v. p.p. slain, J. 174, 370.
Y-stallit, v. p.p. installed, placed, K.

170.

Y-suffer, v. suffer, J. 369.
Y-take, v. take, J. 525.
Y-take, v. p.p. taken, J. 452.
Y-thrungin, v. p.p. pressed, K. 165.
Y-wallit, v. p.p walled, K. 159.
Y-writte, v. p.p. written, J. 466.

3a, adv. yea, K. 68.

3alow, adj. yellow, K. 95.

3ate, s. gate, K. 125.

3elde, v. pay, yield, K. 52.

3er, s. year, K. 22

5ere, s. year, K. 196.

3it, conj., yet, J. 147, passim, K. 63,

193-

5ok s. yoke, K. 193.
3ond, adv. yonder, K. 57, 83.
5one, pron. yon, K. 83.
Bong, adj. young, K. 40, passim.
3outh, s. youth, J. 191, 208, K. 6, 14.

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